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2Dte Kti3er0iDe ^literature g>erie0 



THE AUTOBIOGKAPHY 



'/ 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



AND A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE FROM THE 

POINT WHERE THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY ENDS 

DRAWN CHIEFLY FROM HIS LETTERS 



WITH NOTES AND A CHRONOLOGICAL 
HISTORICAL TABLE 




Uctd'^^'^ 



^-( 



HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

Boston : 4 Park Street ; New York : ll East Seventeentli Street 
Chicago : 158 Adams Street 



! 






Copyright, 1886 and 1896, 
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 

All rights reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company. 



CONTENTS. 



Intkoductoey Note . . . . 
I. Parentage and Boyhood . 
II. Seeking his Fortune . 

III. Adventures in London . 

IV. Return to Philadelphia . 
V. In Business for Himself 

VI. Self-Education . . . . 
VII. George Whitefield . 
VIII. Beginning of Public Life . 
IX. A Public-Spirited Gentleman 
X. A Philadelphia Citizen 

In the Service of the King . 
Common-Sense in War Matters 
Franklin the Pecilosopher 
Departure for England 



XL 

XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 

XV. The Affair with the Proprietaries 



PAGE 
V 

7 

31 

55 

70 

85 

115 

131 

137 

149 

159 

172 

187 

199 

206 

217 



Sketch of Franklin's Life from the Point at which his 

Autobiography ends . . . . . • . . . 223 

Appendix 245 

Index . 249 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin lias prob- 
ably been more extensively^ read than any other 
American historical work, and no other book of its 
kind has had such up§ and downs of fortune. Franklin 
lived for many yaers in England, where he was agent 
for Pennsylvania and other American colonies. He 
was separated from his family, and it was during one 
of his long absences, in 1771, that he determined to 
write an account of his life, which had been an event- 
ful one, for his son William Franklin, then about 
forty years old. William Franklin had been with his 
father in England, as the first paragraph of the Auto- 
biography shows, and had been admitted to the bar 
there, but finding favor at court had been appointed 
Governor of New Jersey, and was in that position 
when Franklin was writing. He held to the royal 
cause and was thereby estranged from his father, 
though before Benjamin Franklin's death they were 
partially reconciled. 

In 1771 Franklin was spending a v^eek at Twyford, 
England, at the country seat of his friend Dr. Jona- 
than Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, and there began 
the writing of his autobiography. The room in which 
it was written long bore and perhaps still bears the 
name of " Dr. Franklin's Room." He began his work, 
as he says, for the pleasure of his own family, but 
there is little doubt that as he went on he anticipated 



vi INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

publication. At this time lie wrote so much of the 
autobiography as is included in the first ninety-five 
pages of this edition, covering, that is, the first twenty- 
five years of l^is life. / 

The years that folio ved were very busy ones, and it 
was not until 1784 thai^ he again took up the narrative, 
being especially urged. to this by his friend Benjamin 
Vaughn, to whom as to" others he had shown mean- 
while what he had alre^tdy written. He was living at 
this time at Passy, then ^r^uburb of Paris, where he 
was Minister of the United States, to Prance, and Wil- 
liam Franklin's son, William Tehi^Je Franklin, was 
secretary to his grandfather. He carried forward the 
narrative to page 114 of this edition, when he was 
again interrupted, and could not find another ojipor- 
tunity to work upon his book until 1788, when he 
brought the account up to the 27th of July, 1757, 
being page 216. Finally, in the last year of his life 
he wrote the few j^ages which leave the narrative 
still very incomplete. In consequence of these several 
beginnings, the autobiography is somewhat fragment- 
ary, and the writer repeats once or twice what he has 
before said ; but the publication of the work had even 
stranger vicissitudes. 

Immediately after Franklin's death in 1790, the first 
portion of the autobiography, that written in England, 
was published in French at Paris, and it is conjec- 
tured that the translator had become possessed of a 
manuscript copy surreptitiously and had published 
his translation without authority. Curiously enough, 
this French version was made the basis of the earliest 
English editions, for in 1793 two separate and dis- 
tinct translations back from the French were published 
in London, and one of these translations continued to 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. vii 

be published in England and America for a quarter of 
a century. It was not till 1818 that the autobiogra- 
phy as written in English was published, forming 
a part of an edition of Franklin's writings prepared 
for a London publisher by William Temple Franklin. 
Where had the original manuscript been all this 
time ? After the death of Franklin, all his papers and 
manuscripts, including the autobiography, came into 
the hands of William Temple Franklin, then living in 
Philadelphia. But there was also a copy of the autobi- 
ography made by another grandson of Franklin, Ben- 
jamin Bache Franklin. It was made in 1789 for one 
of Franklin's intimate friends, M. Le Veillard, and re- 
mained for some years in the family of that gentleman, 
who lost his life during the French Revolution ; then 
William Temple Franklin asked for it, as he thought 
it would make a cleaner copy for the printer, and in 
return sent the original manuscript by Franklin to 
the Yeillard family. In this way the autograph copy, 
at the death of a daughter of M. Le Veillard in 1834, 
came into the possession of her cousin M. de Senar- 
ment, whose grandson delivered it, in 1867, to Mr. 
John Bigelow, who had been one of the great Frank- 
lin's successors as Minister of the United States to 
France. Mr. Bigelow compared this manuscript with 
the printed book as it left William Temple Franklin's 
hands, and found a great many petty differences, as 
well as a wholly unprinted section, that which now 
closes the work. Mr. Bigelow accordingly reissued the 
Aiitohiograjyhy and for the first time, in 1868, the 
book appeared as written by Franklin himself, nearly 
a hundred years after the first portion was written. 
Mr. Bigelow kindly permits the reprinting in this 
form of the text of his carefully prepared edition. 



viii INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

We have omitted the prefaces which separate the 
several parts of the work, and also one or two brief 
passages not adapted to school use. The original 
work is not divided into chapters, hut we have inserted 
chapter headings at natural breaks in the narrative, 
for the convenience of readers. Occasional footnotes 
have been added where the text seemed to call for 
explanation or illustration, but no words have been 
explained which could be understood by reference to 
a good dictionary. At the close of the autobiography 
will be found a sketch of Franklin's life, from the 
point at which he leaves off, to his death; and the 
Chronological Table which follows this Introductory 
Note will furnish further material for an historical 
study of this most interesting career. 

There have been several lives of Franklin written, 
besides a large number of books and magazine articles 
upon his career, both as a statesman and as a man of 
science. So many-sided w^as he that he appears in the 
series of American Statesmen in a volume written by 
John T. Morse, Jr. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), and in 
the series of American Men of Letters in a volume 
written by John Bach McMaster (Houghton, Mifflin 
& Co.), and if there were a series of American Men 
of Science he certainly would have a place there. A 
volume entitled Franhlin in France., by E. E. Hale 
(Roberts Brothers), is based upon recently collected 
Franklin papers, but the fullest life is that by James 
Parton, in two volumes (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). 
In the Riverside Literature Series there is a num- 
ber containing Poor Ricliard's Almanac and Other 
Papers (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



IX 



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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



BElNJAMIN FRANKLIN, 



I. 

PAEENTAGE AND BOYHOOD. 

Deae Son : I have ever had pleasure in obtaining 
any little anecdotes of my ancestors. You may re- 
member the inquiries I made among the remains of 
my relations when you were with me in England, and 
the journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining 
it may be equally agreeable to you to know the cir- 
cumstances of my life, many of which you are yet un- 
acquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a 
week's uninterrupted leisure in my present country 
retirement, I sit down to write them for you. To 
which I have besides some other inducements. Hav- 
ing emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which 
I was born and bred to a state of affluence and some 
degree of reputation in the world, and having gone so 
far through life with a considerable share of felicity, 
the conducing means I made use of, which with the 
blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may 
like to know, as they may find some of them suitable 
to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imi* 
tated. 



8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me 
sometimes to say, that were it offered to my choice, I 
should have no objection to a repetition of the same 
life from its beginning, only asking the advantages 
authors have in a second edition to correct some faults 
of the first. So I might, besides correcting the faults, 
change some sinister accidents and events of it for 
others more favorable. But though this were denied, 
I should still accept the offer. Since such a repetition 
is not to be expected, the next thing most like living 
one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that 
life, and to make that recollection as durable as possi- 
ble by putting it down in writing. 

Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so nat- 
ural in old men, to be talking of themselves and their 
own past actions ; and I shall indulge it without being 
tiresome to others, who, through respect to age, might 
conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, 
since this may be read or not as any one pleases. 
And, lastly (I may as well confess it, since my de- 
nial of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps I shall 
a good deal gratify my own vanity. Indeed, I scarce 
ever heard or saw the introductory words, " Without 
vanity I may say,^^ etc., but some vain thing immedi- 
ately followed. Most people dislike vanity in others, 
whatever share they have of it themselves ; but I give 
it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being per- 
suaded that it is often productive of good to the pos- 
sessor, and to others that are within his sphere of ac- 
tion ; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be 
altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his 
vanity among the other comforts of life. 

And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with 
all humility to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 9 

bappiness of my past life to his kind providence, 
which led me to the means I used and gave them suc- 
cess. My belief of this induces me to hope^ though I 
must not presume^ that the same goodness will still be 
exercised toward me, in continuing that happiness, or 
enabling me to bear a fatal reverse, which I may ex- 
perience as others have done ; the complexion of my 
future fortune being known to Him only in whose 
power it is to bless to us even our afflictions. 

The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind 
of curiosity in collecting family anecdotes) once put 
into my hands furnished me with several particulars 
relating to our ancestors. From these notes I learned 
that the family had lived in the same village, Ecton, 
in Northamptonshire, for three hundred years, and 
how much longer he knew not (perhaps from the time 
when the name of Franklin, that before was the name 
of an order of people, was assumed by them as a sur- 
name when others took surnames all over the king- 
dom), on a freehold of about thirty acres, aided by 
the smith's business, which had continued in the fam- 
ily till his time, the eldest son being always bred to 
that business ; a custom which he and my father fol- 
lowed as to their eldest sons. When I searched the 
registers at Ecton, I found an account of their births, 
marriages, and burials from the year 1555 only, there 
being no registers kept in that parish at any time pre- 
ceding. By that register I perceived that I was the 
youngest son of the youngest son for ^yq generations 
back. My grandfather, Thomas, who was born in 
1598, lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow 
business longer, when he went to live with his son 
John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom 
my father served an apprenticeship. There my grand. 



10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

father died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone 
in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at 
Ecton, and left it with the land to his only child, a 
daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of Wel- 
lingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the 
manor there. My grandfather had four sons that 
grew up, viz. : Thomas, John, Benjamin, and Josiah. 
I will give you what account I can of them, at tliis 
distance from my papers, and if these are not lost in 
my absence, you will among them find many more 
particulars. 

Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, be- 
ing ingenious, and encouraged in learning (as all my 
brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer, then the prin- 
cipal gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself 
for the business of scrivener ; became a considerable 
man in the county ; was a chief mover of all public- 
spirited undertakings for the county or town of North- 
amj)ton, and his own village, of which many instances 
were related of him ; and much taken notice of and 
patronized by the then Lord Halifax. He died in 
1702, January 6, old style, just four years to a day 
before I was born. The account we received of his 
life and character from some old people at Ecton, I 
remember, struck you as something extraordinary, 
from its similarity to what you knew of mine. " Had 
he died on the same day," you said, " one might have 
supposed a transmigration." 

John was bred a dyer, I believe of woolens. Ben- 
jamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an api3renticeship 
at London. He was an ingenious man. I remember 
him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my 
father in Boston, and lived in the house with us some 
years. He lived to a great age. His grandson, Sam* 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 11 

uel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left behind 
him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, con- 
sisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his 
friends and relations, of which the following, sent to 
me, is a specimen.^ He had formed a short-hand of 
his own, which he taught me, but, never practicing it, 
I have now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, 
there being a particular affection between him and 
my father. He was very pious, a great attender of 
sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in 
his short-hand, and had with him many volumes of 
them. He was also much of a politician ; too much, 
perhaps, for his station. There fell lately into my 
hands, in London, a collection he had made of all the 
principal pamphlets relating to public affairs, from 
1641 to 1717 ; many of the volumes are wanting as 
appears by the numbering, but there still remain eight 
volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto and in oc- 
tavo. A dealer in old books met with them, and 
knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, he 
brought them to me. It seems my uncle must have 
left them here when he went to America, which was 
above fifty years since. There are many of his notes 
in the margins. 

This obscure family of ours was early in the Refor- 
mation, and continued Protestants through the reign 
of Queen Mary, when they were sometimes in danger 
of trouble on account of their zeal against popery. 
They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and 
secure it, it was fastened open with tapes under and 
within the cover of a joint-stool. When my great- 
great-grandfather read it to his family, he turned up 
the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves 

^ Franklin failed to copy the specimen into his autobiography. 



12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

then under the tapes. One of the children stood at 
the door to give notice if he saw the apparitor coming, 
who was an officer of the spiritual court. In that case 
the stool was turned down again upon its feet, when 
the Bible remained concealed under it as before. This 
anecdote I had from my uncle Benjamin. The fam- 
ily continued all of the Church of England till about 
the end of Charles the Second's reign, when some of 
the ministers that had been ousted for non-conformity 
holding conventicles in Northamptonshire, Benjamin 
and Josiah adhered to them, and so continued all their 
lives : the rest of the family remained with the Epis- 
copal Church. 

Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his 
wife with three children into New England, about 
1682. The conventicles having been forbidden by 
law, and frequently disturbed, induced some consider* 
able men of his acquaintance to remove to that coun- 
try, and he was prevailed with to accompany them 
thither, where they expected to enjoy their mode of 
religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four 
children more born there, and by a second wife ten 
more, in all seventeen ; of which I remember thirteen 
sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be 
men and women, and married ; I was the youngest 
son, and the youngest child but two, and was born in 
Boston, New England.^ My mother, the second wife, 
was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of 
the first settlers of New England, of whom honorable 
mention is made by Cotton Mather, in his church his- 

1 Franklin was born January 6, 1706, old style, corresponding to 
January 17tli, as we now reckon. The house in which he was bora 
stood in Milk Street, opposite to the Old South meeting-house, but 
was destroyed by fire in 1810. 




Birthplace of Franklin 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 13 

fcory of that country, entitled Magnolia Christi Amer* 
ica7ia^ as " a godly ^ learned Englishman^^ if I re- 
member the words rightly. I have heard that he 
wrote sundry small occasional pieces, but only one of 
them was printed, which I saw now many years since. 
It was written in 1675, in the homespun verse of that 
time and peoj)le, and addressed to those then con- 
cerned in the government there. It was in favor of 
liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, 
Quakers, and other sectaries that had been under 
persecution, ascribing the Indian wars, and other 
distresses that had befallen the country, to that per- 
secution, as so many judgments of God to punish so 
heinous an offense, and exhorting a repeal of those un- 
charitable laws. The whole appeared to me as written 
with a good deal of decent plainness and manly free- 
dom. The six concluding lines I remember, though I 
have forgotten the two first of the stanza ; but the pur- 
port of them was, that his censures proceeded from 
good- will, and therefore he would be known to be the 
author. 

" Because to be a libeller (says he) 

I hate it with my heart ; 
From Sherburne ^ town, where now I dwell 

My name I do put here ; 
Without offense your real friend, 

It is Peter Folgier." 

My elder brothers were all put apprentices to differ- 
ent trades. I was put to the grammar-school at eight 
years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the 
tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church. My 
early readiness in learning to read (which must have 
been very early, as 1 do not remember when I could 
not read), and the opinion of all his friends that I 

1 On the island of Nantucket. 



14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

should certainly make a good scholar, encouraged him 
in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, too, ap. 
proved of it, and proposed to give me all his short- 
hand volumes of sermons, I suppose as a stock to set 
up with, if I would learn his character. I continued, 
however, at the grammar-school ^ not quite one year, 
though in that time I had risen gradually from the 
middle of the class of that year to be the head of it, 
and farther was removed into the next class above it, 
in order to go with that into the tliird at the end of 
the year. But my father, in the mean time, from a 
view of the expense of a college education, which hav- 
ing so large a family he coidd not well afford, and the 
mean living many so educated were afterwards able to 
obtain, — reasons that he gave to his friends in my 
hearing, — altered his first intention, took me from the 
grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing 
and arithmetic, kept by a then famous man, Mr. 
George Brownell, very successful in his profession 
generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods. 
Under him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I 
failed in the arithmetic, and made no progress in it. 
At ten years old I was taken home to assist my father 
in his business, which was that of a tallow-chandler 
and soap-boiler ; a business he was not bred to, but 
had assumed on his arrival in New England, and on 
finding his dyeing trade would not maintain his fam- 
ily, being in little request. Accordingly, I was em- 
ployed in cutting wick for the candles, filling the dip- 
ping mould and the moulds for cast candles, attend- 
ing the shop, going of errands, etc. 

I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination 

^ A grammar-school in Franklin's time meant one where Latin was 
taught. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, l5 

for the aea, but my father declared against it ; how- 
ever, living near the water, I was much in and about 
it, learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats ; 
and when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was 
commonly allowed to govern, especially in any case of 
difficulty ; and upon other occasions I was generally a 
leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into 
scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it 
shows an early projecting public spirit, though not 
then justly conducted. 

There was a salt marsh that bounded part of the 
mill pond,^ on the edge of which, at high water, we 
used to stand to fish for minnows. By much tram- 
pling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal 
was to build a wharf there fit for us to stand upon, 
and I showed my comrades a large heap of stones, 
which were intended for a new house near the marsh, 
and which would very well suit our purpose. Accord- 
ingly, in the evening, when the workmen were gone, I 
assembled a number of my playfellows, and working 
with them diligently, lil^e so many emmets, sometimes 
two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and 
built our little wharf. The next morning the work- 
men were surprised at missing the stones, which were 
found in our wharf. Inquiry was made after the re- 
movers ; we were discovered and complained of ; sev- 
eral of us were corrected by our fathers ; and, though 
I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine convinced 
me that nothing was useful which was not honest. 

I think you may like to know something of his per- 

1 The mill-pond in Boston occupied a large tract between Hay- 
market Square and Causeway Street, so named from a causeway whicli 
separated the pond or cove from the outer water. 



16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

son and character. He had an excellent constitution 
of body, was of middle stature, but well set, and very 
strong ; he vfas ingenious, could draw prettily, was 
skilled a little in music, and had a clear, pleasing 
voice, so that when he played psalm tunes on his vio- 
lin and sung withal, as he sometimes did in an even- 
ing after the business of the day was over, it was ex- 
tremely agreeable to hear. He had a mechanical 
genius, too, and, on occasion, was very handy in the 
use of other tradesmen's tools ; but his great excellence 
lay in a sound understanding and solid judgment in 
prudential matters, both in private and public affairs. 
In the latter, indeed, he was never emjjloyed, the nu- 
merous family he had to educate and the straitness of 
his circumstances keeping him close to his trade ; but 
I remember well his being frequently visited by lead- 
ing 23eoi3le, who consulted him for his opinion in af- 
fairs of the town or of the church he belonged to, and 
showed a good deal of respect for his judgment and 
advice ; he was also much consulted by private per- 
sons about their affairs when any difficulty occurred, 
and frequently chosen an arbitrator batween contend- 
ing parties. At his table he liked to have, as often 
as he could, some sensible friend or neighbor to con- 
verse with, and always took care to start some ingen- 
ious or useful topic for discourse, which might tend to 
improve the minds of his children. By this means he 
turned our attention to what was good, just, and pru- 
dent in the conduct of life ; and little or no notice was 
ever taken of what related to the victuals on the table, 
whether it was well or ill dressed, in or out of season, 
of good or bad flavor, preferable or inferior to this or 
that other thing of the kind, so that I was brought up 
m such a perfect inattention to those matters as to be 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 17 

quite indifferent what kind of food was set before me, 
and so unobservant of it, that to this day if I am 
asked I can scarce tell a few hours after dinner what 
I dined upon. This has been a convenience to me in 
traveling, where my companions have been sometimes 
very unhappy for want of a suitable gratification of 
their more delicate, because better instructed, tastes 
and appetites. 

My mother had likewise an excellent constitution ; 
she suckled all her ten children. I never knew either 
my father or mother to have any sickness but that of 
which they died, he at 89, and she at 85 years of age. 
They lie buried together at Boston,^ where I some 
years since placed a marble over their grave, with this 
inscription : — 

JOSIAH FkANKUK, 

and 

Abiah his wife, 

lie liere interred. 

They lived lovingly together in wedlock 

fifty-five years. 

Without an estate, or any gainful employment, 

By constant labor and industry, 

with God's blessing, 
They maintained a large family 

comfortably, 

and brought up thirteen children 

and seven grandchildren 

reputably. 

From this instance, reader, 

Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling. 

And distrust not Providence. 

He was a pious and prudent man ; 

She, a discreet and virtuous woman. 

Their youngest son, 

^ The grave of Franklin's parents is in the Granary burying-ground 
In Boston. The marble stone with its inscription having crumbled, a 
new and larger monument was raised over the grave in 1827 and the 
original inscription was repeated on it. 



18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

In filial regard to their memory, 

Places ttis stone. 
J. F. born 1655, died 1744, ^tat 89. 
A. F. born 1667, died 1752, — ^85. 

By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to 
be grown old. I used to write more methodically. 
But one does not dress for private company as for a 
public ball. 'T is perhaps only negligence. 

To return : I continued thus employed in my fa- 
ther's business for two years, that is, till I was twelve 
years old ; and my brother John, who was bred to 
that business, having left my father, married, and set 
up for himself at Rhode Island, there was all appear- 
ance that I was destined to supply his place, and be- 
come a tallow-chandler. But my dislike to the trade 
continuing, my father was under apprehensions that 
if he did not find one for me more agreeable, I should 
break away and get to sea, as his son Josiah had done, 
to his great vexation. He therefore sometimes took 
me to walk with him, and see joiners, bricklayers, 
turners, braziers, etc., at their work, that he might ob- 
serve my inclination, and endeavor to fix it on some 
trade or other on land. It has ever since been a 
pleasure to me to see good workmen handle their 
tools, and it has been useful to me, having learned so 
much by it as to be able to do little jobs myself in my 
house when a workman could not readily be got, and 
to construct little machines for my experiments, while 
the intention of making the experiment was fresh and 
warm in my mind. My father at last fixed upon the 
cutler's trade, and my uncle Benjamin's son Samuel, 
who was bred to that business in London, being about 
that time established in Boston, I was sent to be with 
him some time on liking. But his expectations of a 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 19 

fee with me displeasing my father, I was taken home 
again. 

From a child I was fond of reading, and all the lit- 
tle money that came into my hands was ever laid out 
in books. Pleased with the Pilgrim's Progress, my 
first collection was of John Bimyan's works in sepa- 
rate little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable 
me to buy R. Burton's Historical Collections ; they 
were small chapmen's books, and cheap, forty or fifty 
in all. My father's little library consisted chiefly of 
books in polemic divinity, most of which I read, and 
have since often regretted that, at a time when I had 
such a thirst for knowledge, more proper books had 
not fallen in my way, since it was now resolved I 
should not be a clergyman. Plutarch's Lives there 
was in which I read abundantly, and I still think that 
time spent to great advantage. There was also a book 
of De Foe's, called an Essay on Projects^ and another 
of Dr. Mather's, called Essays to do Good^ which per- 
haps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influ- 
ence on some of the principal future events of my 
life. 

This bookish inclination at length determined my 
father to make me a printer, though he had already 
one son (James) of that profession. In 1717 my 
brother James returned from England with a press 
and letters ^ to set up his business in Boston. I liked 
it much better than that of my father, but still had a 
hankering for the sea. To prevent the apprehended 
effect of such an inclination, my father was impatient 
to have me bound to my brother. I stood out some 
time, but at last was persuaded, and signed the in- 
dentures when I was yet but twelve years old. I was 
1 That is, type. 



20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

to serve as an apprentice till I was twenty-one years 
of age, only I was to be allowed journeyman's wao-es 
during the last year. In a little time I made great 
proficiency in the business, and became a useful hand 
to my brother. I now had access to better books. 
An acquaintance with the apprentices of booksellers 
enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one, which I 
was careful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up 
in my room reading the greatest part of the night, 
when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be 
returned early in the morning, lest it should be missed 
or wanted. 

And after some time an ingenious tradesman, Mr. 
Matthew Adams, who had a pretty collection of books, 
and who frequented our printing-house, took notice of 
me, invited me to his library, and very kindly lent me 
such books as I chose to read. I now took a fancy to 
poetry, and made some little pieces ; my brother, 
thinking it might turn to account, encouraged me, and 
put me on composing occasional ballads. One was 
called The Lighthouse Tragedy^ and contained an ac- 
count of the drowning of Captain Worthilake, with 
^is two daughters ; the other was a sailor's song, on 
the taking of Teach (or Blackbeard), the pirate. 
They were wretched stuff, in the Grub Street ballad 
style ; and when they were printed he sent me about 
the town to sell them. The first sold wonderfully, the 
event being recent, having made a great noise. This 
flattered my vanity ; but my father discouraged me 
by ridiculing my performances, and telling me verse- 
makers were generally beggars. So I escaped being 
a poet, most probably a very bad one ; but as prose 
writing has been of great use to me in the course of 
my life, and was a principal means of my advance- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 21 

ment, I shall tell you how, in such a situation, I ac- 
quired what little ability I have in that way. 

There was another bookish lad in the town, John 
Collins by name, with whom I was intimately ac- 
quainted. We sometimes disputed, and very fond we 
were of argument, and very desirous of confuting one 
another, which disputatious turn, by the way, is apt to 
become a very bad habit, making people often ex- 
tremely disagreeable in company by the contradiction 
that is necessary to bring it into ]3ractice ; and thence, 
besides souring and spoiling the conversation, is pro- 
ductive of disgusts and perhaps enmities where you 
may have occasion for friendship. I had caught it by 
reading my father's books of dispute about religion. 
Persons of good sense, I have since observed, seldom 
fall into it, except lawyers, university men, and men 
of all sorts that have been bred at Edinburgh. 

A question was once, somehow or other, started be- 
tween Collins and me, of the propriety of educating 
the female sex in learning, and their abilities for 
study. He was of opinion that it was improper, and 
that they were naturally unequal to it. I took the 
contrary side, perhaps a little for dispute's sake. He 
was naturally more eloquent, had a ready plenty of 
words ; and sometimes, as I thought, bore me down 
more by his fluency than by the strength of his rea- 
sons. As we parted without settling the point, and 
were not to see one another again for some time, I sat 
down to put my arguments in writing, which I coj)ied 
fair and sent to him. He answered, and I replied. 
Three or four letters of a side had passed, when my 
father happened to find my papers and read them. 
Without entering into the discussion, he took occasion 
to talk to me about the manner of my writing ; ob- 



22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

served that, though I had the advantage of my antag- 
onist in correct spelling and pointing (which I owed 
to the printing-house), I fell far short in elegance of 
expression, in method, and in perspicuity, of which he 
convinced me by several instances. I saw the justice 
of his remarks, and thence grew more attentive to the 
manner in writing, and determined to endeavor at im- 
provement. 

About this time I met with an odd volume of the 
Spectator.^ It was the third. I had never before 
seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, 
and was much delighted with it. I thought the writ- 
ing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. 
With this view I took some of the papers, and mak- 
ing short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid 
them by a few days, and then, without looking at the 
book, tried to complete the papers again, by expressing 
each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had 
been expressed before, in any suitable words that 
should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator 
with the original, discovered some of my faults, and 
corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, 
or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I 
thought I should have acquired before that time if I 
had gone on making verses ; since the continual occa- 
sion for words of the same import, but of different 
length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for 
the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant neces- 
sity of searching for variety, and also have tended to 
fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of 

1 The Spectator was a weekly journal published in London and de- 
voted not to news, but to comments on manners and morals. It some- 
times also had short tales. The best English writing of the day, by 
Addison, Steele, and others, was found in The Spectator and similat 
periodicals. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 23 

it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned 
them into verse ; and, after a time, when I had pretty 
well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I 
also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into 
confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce 
them into the best order, before I began to form the 
full sentences and complete the paper. This was to 
teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts. By 
comparing my work afterwards with the original, I 
discovered many faults and amended them ; but I 
sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in cer- 
tain particulars of small import, I had been lucky 
enough to improve the method or the language, and 
this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time 
come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was 
extremely ambitious. My time for these exercises and 
for reading was at night, after work, or before it began 
in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to 
be in the printing-house alone, evading as much as I 
could the common attendance on public worship which 
my father used to exact of me when I was under his 
care, and which indeed I still thought a duty, though 
I could not, as it seemed to me, afford time to prac- 
tice it. 

When about sixteen years of age I happened to 
meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recommend- 
ing a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. My 
brother, being yet unmarried, did not keep house, but 
boarded himself and his apprentices in another fam- 
ily. My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconven- 
iency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. 
I made myself acquainted with Tryon' s manner of pre- 
paring some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or 
rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and 



24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

fclien proposed to my brother that if he would give me, 
weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would 
board myself. He instantly agreed to it and I j)res- 
ently found that I could save half what he paid me. 
This was an additional fund for buying books. But 
I had another advantage in it. My brother and the 
rest going from the printing-house to their meals, I 
remained there alone, and dispatching presently my 
light repast, which often was no more than a biscuit or a 
slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart from the 
pastry-cook's, and a glass of water, had the rest of the 
time till their return for study, in which I made the 
greater progress, from that greater clearness of head 
and quicker apprehension which usually attend tem- 
perance in eating and drinking. 

And now it was that, being on some occasion made 
ashamed of my ignorance in figures, which I had twice 
failed in learning when at school, I took Cocker's 
book of Arithmetic, and went through the whole by 
myself with great ease. I also read Seller's and 
Shermy's books of Navigation, and became acquainted 
with the little geometry they contain ; but never pro- 
ceeded far in that science. And I read about this 
time Locke On Human Understanding^ and the Art 
of Thinhing^ by Messrs. du Port Royal.^ 

While I was intent on improving my language, I 
met with an English Grammar (I think it was Green- 
wood's), at the end of which there were two little 
sketches of the arts of rhetoric and logic, the latter 
finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic 

1 Early in the seventeenth century a company of learned and relig- 
ious men were associated at the abbey of Port Royal near Versailles in 
France. Here they studied and worshipped and gave out to the world 
many valuable books. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 25 

metliod ; and soon after I procured Xenophon's Mem- 
orable Thirties of Socrates, wherein there are many 
instances of the same method. I was charmed with 
it, adopted it, dropped my abrupt contradiction and 
positive argumentation, and j)ut on the humble inquirer 
and doubter. And being then, from reading Shaftes- 
bury and Collins, become a real doubter in many points 
of our religious doctrine, I found this method safest 
for myself and very embarrassing to those against 
whom I used it ; therefore I took a delight in it, prac- 
ticed it continually, and grew very artful and expert 
in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into 
concessions, the consequences of which they did not 
foresee, entangling them in difficulties out of which 
they could not extricate themselves, and so obtaining 
victories that neither myself nor my cause always de- 
served. I continued this method some few years, but 
gradually left it, retaining only the habit of expressing' 
myself in terms of modest diffidence ; never using, 
when I advanced anything that may possibly be dis- 
puted, the words certainly, undoubtedly, or any oth- 
ers that give the air of positiveness to an opinion ; but 
rather say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so 
and so ; it appears to me, or / should thinh it so or 
so, for such and such reasons ; or / imagine it to be 
so ; or it is so if I am not mistaken. This habit, I 
believe, has-been of great advantage to me when I 
have had occasion to inculcate my opinions, and per- 
suade men into measures that I have been from time 
to time engaged in promoting ; and as the chief ends 
of conversation are to inform or to be informed, to 
•please or to persuade, I wish well-meaning, sensible 
men would not lessen their power of doing good by 
a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails to dis- 



26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

gust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every 
one of those purposes for which speech was given to 
us, to wit, giving or receiving information or pleasure. 
For if you would inform, a positive and dogmatical 
manner in advancing your sentiments may provoke 
contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you 
wish information and improvement from the knowl- 
edge of others, and yet at the same time express your= 
self as firmly fixed in your present opinions, modest, 
sensible men who do not love disputation will proba- 
bly leave you undisturbed in the possession of your 
error. And by such a manner you can seldom hope 
to recommend yourself in ^:)/e«si??^ your hearers, or 
to persuade those whose concurrence you desire. Pope 
says, judiciously : — 

' ' Men should be taught as if you taus^ht them not, 
And things unknown propos'd as things forgot; " 

farther recommending to us 

"To speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence." 

And he might have coupled with this line that which 
he has coupled with another, I think less properly, 

' ' For want of modesty is want of sense. ' ' 

If you ask, Why less properly? I must repeat the 
lines, — 

" Immodest words admit of no defense, 
For want of modesty is want of sense." 

Now, is not luant of sense (where a man is so unf ortu- 
uate as to want it) some apology for his wajit of mod- 
esty f and would not the lines stand more justly thus 1 

*' Immodest words admit hut this defense, 
That want of modesty is want of sense." 

This, however, I should submit to better judgments. 
My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print a 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 27 

newspaper, It was the second that appeared in Amer> 
ica, and was called the Neic England Courant} The 
only one before it was the Boston News-Letter. I re- 
member his being dissuaded by some of his friends 
from the undertaking, as not likely to succeed, one 
newsj)aper being, in their judgment, enough for Amer- 
ica. At this time (1771) there are not less than five- 
and-twenty. He went on, however, with the under- 
taking, and after having worked in composing the 
types and printing off the sheets, I was employed to 
carry the papers through the streets to the customers. 
He had some ingenious men among his friends, who 
amused themselves by writing little pieces for this 
paper, which gained it credit and made it more in de- 
mand, and these gentlemen often visited us. Hearing 
their conversations, and their accounts of the approba- 
tion their papers were received with, I was excited to 
try my hand among them ; but being still a boy, and 
suspecting that my brother would object to printing 
anything of mine in his paper if he knew it to be mine, 
I contrived to disguise my hand, and writing an^ anony- 
mous paper, I 23ut it in at night under the door of the 
printing-house. It was found in the morning, and 
communicated to his writing friends when they called 
in as usual. They read it, commented on it in my 
hearing, and I had the exquisite pleasure of finding it 
met with their approbation, and that in their different 
guesses at the author, none were named but men of 
some character among us for learning and ingenuity. 
I suppose now that I was rather lucky in my judges, 

^ Franklin's memory was a little at fault here. The Courant was 
the third newspaper established in New Eng-land, the fourth in Amer- 
ica. The Boston Gazette and the American Weekly Mercury of Phila- 
delphia were published in 1719, the Courant in 1721. The Boston 
N ews-Letter diSitQd. from 1704 



28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

and that perhaps they were not really so very good 
ones as I then esteemed them. 

Encouraged, hovvever,.by this, I wrote and conveyed 
in the same way to the press several more papers 
which were equally approved ; and I kept my secret 
till my small fund of sense for such performances was 
pretty well exhausted, and then I discovered it, when 
I began to be considered a little more by my brother's 
acquaintance, and in a manner that did not quite 
please him, as he thought, probably with reason, that 
it tended to make me too vain. And, perhaps, this 
might be one occasion of the differences that we began 
to have about this time. Though a brother, he con- 
sidered himself as my master, and me as his appren- 
tice, and, accordingly, expected the same services from 
me as he would from another, while I thought he de- 
meaned me too much in some he required of me, who 
from a brother expected more indulgence. Our dis- 
putes were often brought before our father, and 1 
fancy I was either generally in the right, or else a bet- 
ter pleader, because the judgment was generally in 
my favor. But my brother was passionate, and had 
often beaten me, which I took extreme^ amiss ; and, 
thinking my apprenticeship very tedious, I was con- 
tinually wishing for some opportunity of shortening it, 
which at length offered in a manner unexpected.^ 

One of the pieces in our news23a23er on some politi- 
cal point, which I have now forgotten, gave offence to 
the Assembly. He was taken up, censured, and im- 
prisoned for a month, by the speaker's warrant, I sup- 
pose, because he would not discover his author. I too 

^ I fancy his harsh and tyrannical treatment of me might be a 
means of impressing me with that aversion to arbitrary power thai 
has stuck to me through my whole life. B. F. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 29 

f\ras taken up and examined before the council ; but, 
though I did not give them any satisfaction, they con- 
tented themselves with admonishing me, and dismissed 
me, considering me, perhaps, as an apprentice, who 
was bound to keep his master's secrets. 

During my brother's confinement, which I resented 
a good deal, notwithstanding our private differences, I 
had the management of the paper ; and I made bold 
to give our rulers some rubs in it, which my brother 
took very kindly, wdiile others began to consider me 
in an unfavorable light, as a young genius that had a 
turn for libelling and satire. My brother's discharge 
was accompanied with an order of the House (a very 
odd one), that " James Franklin should no longer 
lorint the 'pwper called the Neio England Courant^ 

There was a consultation held in our printing-house 
among his friends, what he should do in this case. 
Some proposed to evade the order by changing the 
name of the paper ; but my brother, seeing, inconven- 
iences in that, it was finally concluded on as a better 
way, to let it be printedrfor the future under the name 
of Benjamin Franklin ; and to avoid the censure of 
the Assembly, that might fall on him as still printing 
it by his apprentice, the contrivance was that my old 
indenture should be returned to me, with a full dis- 
charge on the back of it, to be shown on occasion, but 
to secure to him the benefit of my service, I was to 
sign new indentures for the remainder of the term, 
which were to be kept private. A very flimsy scheme 
it was ; however, it was immediately executed, and the 
paper went on accordingly, under my name for several 
\nonths. 

At length, a fresh difference arising between my 
brother and me, I took upon me to assert my freedom, 
presuming that he would not venture to produce the 



30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

new indentures. It was not fair in me to take this 
advantage, and this I therefore reckon one of the first 
errata of my life ; but the unfairness of it weighed 
little with me, when under the impressions of resent- 
ment for the blows his j^assion too often urged him to 
bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not an ill- 
natured man: perhaps I was too saucy and provok= 
ing. 

When he found I would leave him, he took care to 
prevent my getting employment in any other printing- 
house of the town, by going round and speaking to 
every master, who acc6rdingiy refused to give me 
work. I then thought of going to New York, as the 
nearest place where there was a printer ; and I was 
rather inclined to leave Boston when I reflected that I 
had already made myself a little obnoxious to the gov- 
erning party, and from the arbitrary proceedings of 
the Assembly in my brother's case, it was likely I 
might, if I stayed, soon bring myself into scrapes ; 
and further, that my indiscreet disputations about re- 
ligion began to make me pointed at with horror by 
good people as an infidel or atheist. I determined on 
the point, but my father now siding with my brother, 
I was sensible that if I attempted to go openly, means 
would be used to prevent me. My friend Collins, there- 
fore, undertook to manage a little for me. He agreed 
with the caj^tain of a New York sloop for my passage, 
under the notion of my being a young acquaintance 
of his [that had gotten himself into trouble]. So I 
sold some of my books to raise a little money, was 
taken on board privately, and as we had a fair wind, 
in three days I found myself in New York, near 300 
miles from home, a boy of but 17, without the least 
recommendation to, or knowledge of, any person in the 
place, and with very little money in my pocket. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 31 



n. 

SEEKING HIS FORTUNE. 

My inclinations for the sea were by ttds time worn 
out, or I might now have gratified them. But, having 
a trade, and supposing myself a pretty good workman, 
I offered my service to the printer in the place, old 
Mr. William Bradford, who had been the first printer 
in Pennsylvania, but removed from thence upon the 
quarrel of George Keith. He could give me no em- 
ployment, having little to do, and help enough already ; 
but says he, " My son at Philadelphia has lately lost 
his principal hand, Aquila Rose, by death ; if you go 
thither, I believe he may employ you." Philadelphia 
was a hundred miles further ; I set out, however, in a 
boat for Amboy, leaving my chest and things to fol- 
low me round by sea. 

In crossing the bay, we met with a squall that tore 
our rotten sails to pieces, prevented our getting into 
the Kill, and drove us upon Long Island. In our 
way, a drunken Dutchman, who was a passenger too, 
fell overboard ; when he was sinking, I reached through 
the water to his shock pate, and drew him up, so that 
we got him in again. His ducking sobered him a lit- 
tle, and he went to sleep, taking first out of his pocket 
a book, which he desired I would dry for him. It 
proved to be my old favorite author, Bunyan's PiU 
grimes Progress^ in Dutch, finely printed on good 
paper, with copper cuts, a dress better than I had ever 



32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

seen it wear in its own language. I have since found 
tliat it lias been translated into most of the languages 
of Europe, and supj^ose it has been more generally 
read than any other book, except perhaps the Bible. 
Honest John was the first that I know of who mixed 
narration and dialogue ; a method of writing very en- 
gaging to the reader, who in the most interesting 
parts finds himself, as it were, brought into the com- 
pany and present at the discourse. De Foe in his 
Crusoe^ his 3Ioll Flanders^ Religious Courtship^ 
Family Instructor^ and other pieces, has imitated it 
with success, and Richardson has done the same in 
his Pamela^ etc. 

When we drew near the island, we found it was at 
a place where there could be no landing, there being a 
great surf on the stony beach. So we dropped anchor, 
and swung round towards the shore. Some people 
came down to the water edge and hallooed to us, as 
we did to them ; but the wind was so high, and the 
surf so loud, that we could not hear so as to under- 
stand each other. There were canoes on the shore, 
and we made signs, and hallooed that they should 
fetch us ; but they either did not understand us, or 
thought it impracticable, so they went away, and night 
coming on, we had no remedy but to wait till the wind 
should abate ; and, in the mean time, the boatman and 
I concluded to sleep, if we could ; and so crowded into 
the scuttle, with the Dutchman, who was still wet ; and 
the spray beating over the head of our boat, leaked 
through to us, so that we were soon almost as wet as 
he. In this manner we lay all night, with very little 
rest ; but the wind abating the next day, we made a 
shift to reach Amboy before night, having been thirty 
hours on the water, without victuals, or any drink but 



BENJAMIN fRANKLlN. 33 

a bottle of filthy rum, the water we sailed on being 
salt. 

In the evening I found myself very feverish, and 
went in to bed ; but having read somewhere that cold 
water drank plentifully was good for a fever, I fol- 
lowed the prescription, sweat plentifully most of the 
night, my fever left me, and in the morning, crossing 
the ferry, I proceeded on my journey on foot, having 
fifty miles to Burlington,^ where I was told I should 
find boats that would carry me the rest of the way to 
Philadelphia. 

It rained very hard all the day ; I was thoroughly 
soaked, and by noon a good deal tired ; so I stopped at 
a poor inn, where I stayed all night, beginning now to 
wish that I had never left home. I cut so miserable 
a figure, too, that I found, by the questions asked me, 
I was suspected to be some runaway servant, and in 
danger of being taken up on that suspicion. However, 
I proceeded the next day, and got in the evening to an 
inn, within eight or ten miles of Burlington, kept by 
one Dr. Brown. He entered into conversation with 
me while I took some refreshment, and, finding I had 
read a little, became very sociable and friendly. Our 
acquaintance continued as long as he lived. He had 
been, I imagine, an itinerant doctor, for there was no 
town in England, or country in Europe, of which he 
could not give a very particular account. He had 
some letters, and was ingenious, but much of an un- 
believer, and wickedly undertook, some years after, to 
travesty the Bible in doggerel verse, as Cotton had 
done Yirgil. By this means he set many of the facts 
in a very ridiculous light, and might have hurt weak 

^ In New Jersey. 



34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

minds if his work had been published ; but it never 
was. 

At his house I lay that night, and the next morning 
reached Burlington, but had the mortification to find 
that the regular boats were gone a little before my 
coming, and no other expected to go before Tuesday, 
this being Saturday ; wherefore I returned to an old 
woman in the town, of whom I had bought ginger- 
bread to eat on the water, and asked her advice. She 
invited me to lodge at her house till a passage by 
water should offer; and being tired with my foot 
traveling, I accepted the invitation. She, understand- 
ing I was a printer, would have had me stay at that 
town and follow my business, being ignorant of the 
stock necessary to begin with. She was very hospita- 
ble, gave me a dinner of ox-cheek with great good- 
will, accepting only of a pot of ale in return ; and I 
thought myself fixed till Tuesday should come. How- 
ever, walking in the evening by the side of the river, 
a boat came by, which I found was going towards 
Philadelphia, with several people in her. They took 
me in, and, as there was no wind, we rowed all the 
way ; and about midnight, not having yet seen the 
city, some of the company were confident we must 
have passed it, and would row no farther ; the others 
knew not where we were ; so we put toward the shore, 
got into a creek, landed near an old fence, with the 
rails of which we made a fire, the night being cold, in 
October, and there we remained till daylight. Then 
one of the company knew the place to be Cooper's 
Creek, a little above Philadelphia, which we saw as 
soon as we got out of the creek, and arrived there 
about eight or nine o'clock on the Sunday morning, 
and landed at the Market Street wharf. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 35 

I have been the more particular in this description 
of my journey, and shall be so of my first entry into 
that city, that you may in your mind compare such 
unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made 
there. I was in my working-dress, my best clothes 
being to come round by sea. I was dirty from my 
journey ; my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and 
stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for 
lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and 
want of rest, I was very hungry ; and my whole stock 
of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar,^ and about a shil- 
ling in copper. The latter I gave the people of the 
boat for my passage, who at first refused it on account 
of my rowing ; but I insisted on their taking it. A 
man being sometimes more generous when he has but a 
little money than when he has plenty, perhaps through 
fear of being thought to have but little. 

Then I walked up the street, gazing about till 
near the market-house I met a boy with bread. I had 
made many a meal on bread, and Inquiring where he 
got it, I went immediately to the baker's he directed 
me to, in Second Street, and asked for biscuit, intend- 
ing such as we had in Boston ; but they, it seems, were 
not made in Philadelphia. Then I asked for a three- 
penny loaf, and was told they had none such. So not 
considering or knowing the difference of money, and 
the greater cheapness nor the names of his bread, I 
bade him give me three-j)enny worth of any sort. He 
gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I was 
surprised at the quantity, but took it, and having no 
room in my pockets, walked off with a roll under each 
arm, and eating the other. Thus I went up Market 
Street as far as Fourth Street, passing by the door of 

1 The metal currency at that time was of foreign coinag-e. 



36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Mr. Read, my future wife's father ; when she, stand- 
ing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I cer- 
tainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance. 
Then I turned and went down Chestnut Street and 
part of Walnut Street, eating my roll all the way, and 
coming round, found myself again at Market Street 
w4iarf, near the boat I came in, to which I went for a 
draught of the river water ; and being filled with one 
of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman and her 
child that came down the river in the boat with us, 
and were waiting to go farther. 

Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, which 
by this time had" many clean-dressed people in it, who 
were all walking the same way. I joined them, and 
thereby was led into the great meeting-house ^ of the 
Quakers near the market. I sat down among them, 
and after looking round a while and hearing nothing 
said, being very drowsy through labor and want of 
rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and contin- 
ued so till the meeting broke up, when one was kind 
enough to rouse me. This was, therefore, the first 
house I was in or slept in, in Philadelphia. 

Walking down again toward the river, and looking 
in the faces of people, I met a young Quaker man, 
whose countenance I liked, and, accosting him, re- 
quested he would tell me where a stranger could get 
lodging. We were then near the sign of the Three 
Mariners. " Here," says he, " is one place that enter- 
tains strangers, but it is not a reputable house ; if thee 
wilt walk with me, I '11 show thee a better." He 
brought me to the Crooked Billet in Water Street. 
Here I got a dinner ; and while I was eating it, sev- 
eral sly questions were asked me, as it seemed to be 

^ Tliis stood on the southwest corner of Second and Market streets. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 37 

suspected from my youth and appearance that I might 
be some runaway. 

After dinner, my sleepiness returned, and being 
shown to a bed, I lay down without undressing, and 
slept till six in the evening, was called to supper, went 
to bed again very early, and slept soundly till next 
morning. Then I made myself as tidy as I could, and 
went to Andrew Bradford the printer's. I found in 
the shop the old man his father, whom I had seen at 
New York, and who, traveling on horseback, had got 
to Philadelphia before me. He introduced me to his 
son, who received me civilly, gave me a breakfast, but 
told me he did not at present want a hand, being lately 
supplied with one ; but there was another printer in 
town, lately set up, one Keimer, who, perhaps, might 
employ me ; if not, I should be welcome to lodge at 
his house, and he would give me a little work to do 
now and then till fuller business should offer. 

The old gentleman said he would go with me to the 
new printer ; and when we found him, " Neighbor," 
says Bradford, " I have brought to see you a young 
man of your business ; perhaps you may want such a 
one." He asked me a few questions, put a composing 
stick in my hand to see how I worked, and then said 
he would employ me soon, though he had just then 
nothing for me to do ; and taking old Bradford, whom 
he had never seen before, to be one of the town's peo- 
ple that had a good will for him, entered into a con- 
versation on his present undertaking and prospects ; 
while Bradford, not discovering that he was the other 
printer's father, on Keimer's saying he expected soon 
to- get the greatest part of the business into his own 
hands, drew him on by artful questions, and starting 
little doubts, to explain all his vrews, what interests 



38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

he relied on, and in what manner he intended to pro- 
ceed. I, who stood by and heard all, saw immedi- 
ately that one of them was a crafty old sophister, and 
the other a mere novice. Bradford left me with Kei- 
mer, who was greatly surprised when I told him who 
the old man was. 

Keimer's printing-house, I found, consisted of an 
old shattered press, and one small, worn-out font of 
English,^ which he was then using himself, composing 
an Elegy on Aquila Rose, before mentioned, an in- 
genious young man, of excellent character, much re- 
spected in the town, clerk of the Assembly, and a 
pretty poet. Keimer made verses too, but very indif- 
ferently. He could not be said to write them, for his 
manner was to compose them in the types directly out 
of his head. So there being no copy, but one pair of 
cases, and the Elegy likely to require all the letter, no 
one could help him. I endeavored to put his press 
(which he had not yet used, and of which he under- 
stood nothing) into order fit to be worked with ; and 
promising to come and print off his Elegy as soon as 
he should have got it ready, I returned to Bradford's, 
who gave me a little job to do for the present, and 
there I lodged and dieted. A few days after, Keimer 
sent for me to print off the Elegy. And now he had 
got another pair of cases, and a pamphlet to reprint, 
on which he set me to work. 

These two printers I found poorly qualified for their 
business. Bradford had not been bred to it, and was 
very illiterate ; and Keimer, though something of a 
scholar, was a mere compositor knowing nothing of 
presswork. He had been one of the French prophets,^ 

^ The name of a certain size of type. 

2 Sujiposed to be a sect of French Pi'otestants, called Camisards. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 39 

and could act their enthusiastic agitations. At this 
time he did not profess any particular religion, but 
something of all on occasion ; was very ignorant of the 
v/orld, and had, as I afterward found, a good deal of 
the knave in his composition. He did not like my 
lodging at Bradford's while I worked with him. He 
had a house indeed, but without furniture, so he could 
not lodge me ; but he got me a lodging at Mr. Read's 
before mentioned, who was the owner of his house ; 
and my chest and clothes being come by this time, I 
made rather a more respectable appearance in the eyes 
of Miss Read than I had done when she first happened 
to see me eating my roll in the street. 

I began now to have some acquaintance among the 
young people of the town that were lovers of reading, 
with whom I spent my evenings very pleasantly ; and 
gaining money by my industry and frugality, I lived 
very agreeably, forgetting Boston as much as I could, 
and not desiring that any there should know where I 
resided except my friend Collins, who was in my se- 
cret, and kept it when I wrote to him. At length, an 
incident happened that sent me back again much 
sooner than I had intended. I had a brother-in-law, 
Robert Holmes, master of a sloop that traded between 
Boston and Delaware. He being at Newcastle, forty 
miles below Philadelphia, heard there of me, and wrote 
me a letter mentioning the concern of my friends 
in Boston at my abrupt departure, assuring me of 
their good-will to me, and that everything would be 
accommodated to my mind if I would return, to which 
he exhorted me very earnestly. I wrote an answer to 
his letter, thanked him for his advice, but stated my 
reasons for quitting Boston fully and in such a light 
as to convince him I was not so wrong as he had ap- 
prehended. 



40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Sir William Keith, governor of the province, was 
then at Newcastle, and Captain Holmes, happening to 
be in company with him when my letter came to hand, 
spoke to him of me, and showed him the letter. The 
governor read it, and seemed surj)rised when he was 
told my age; He said I appeared a young man of 
promising parts, and therefore should be encouraged ; 
the printers at Philadelphia were wretched ones ; and, 
if I would set up there, he made no doubt I should 
succeed ; for his part, he would procure me the public 
business, and do me every other service in his power. 
This my brother-in-law afterwards told me in Boston, 
but I knew as yet nothing of it ; when, one day, Keimer 
and I being at work together near the window, we saw 
the governor and another gentleman (which proved to 
be Colonel French of Newcastle), finely dressed, 
come directly across the street to our house, and heard 
them at the door. 

Keimer ran down immediately, thinking it a visit 
to him ; but the governor inquired for me, came up, 
and with a condescension and politeness I had been 
quite unused to made me many compliments, desired 
to be acquainted with me, blamed me kindly for not 
having made myself known to him when I first came 
to the place, and would have me away with him to the 
tavern, where he was going wdth Colonel French to 
taste, as he said, some excellent Madeira. I was not 
a little surprised, and Keimer stared like a pig poi- 
soned. I went, however, with the governor and Colo= 
nel French to a tavern, at the corner of Third Street, 
and over the Madeira he proposed my setting up my 
business, laid before me the probabilities of success, 
and both he and Colonel French assured me I should 
have their interest and influence in procuring the pub 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 41 

lie business of both governments. On my doubting 
whether my father would assist me in it, Sir William 
said he would give me a letter to him, in which he 
would state the advantages, and he did not doubt of 
prevailing with him. So it was concluded I should 
return to Boston in the first vessel, with the gov- 
ernor's letter recommending me to my father. In the 
mean time the intention was to be kept a secret, and 
I went on working with Keimer as usual, the gov- 
ernor sending for me now and then to dine with him, 
a very great honor I thought it, and conversing with 
me in the most affable, familiar, and friendly manner 
imaginable. 

About the end of April, 1724, a little vessel offered 
for Boston. I took leave of Keimer as going to see 
my friends. The governor gave me an ample letter, 
saying many flattering things of me to my father, and 
strongly recommending the project of my setting up 
at Philadelphia as a thing that must make my fortune. 
We struck on a shoal in going down the bay, and 
sprung a leak ; we had a blustering time at sea, and 
were obliged to pump almost continually, at w^hich I 
took my turn. We arrived safe, however, at Boston 
in about a fortnight. I had been absent seven months, 
and my friends had heard nothing of me ; for my 
brother Holmes was not yet returned, and had not 
written about me. My unexpected appearance sur- 
prised the family ; all were, however, very glad to see 
me, and made me welcome, except my brother. I 
went to see him at his printing-house. I was better 
dressed than ever while in his service, having a genteel 
new suit from head to foot, a watch, and my pockets 
lined with near five pounds sterling in silver. He re- 
ceived me not very frankly, looked me all over, and 
turned to his work again. 



42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

The journeymen were inquisitive where I had been, 
what sort of a country it was, and how I liked it. I 
praised it much, and the happy life I led in it ; ex- 
pressing strongly my intention of returning to it ; and 
one of them asking what kind of money we had there, 
I produced a handful of silver, and spread it before 
them, which was a kind of rare show they had not 
been used to, paper being the money of Boston. Then 
I took an opportunity of letting them see my watch ; 
and, lastly (my brother still grum and sullen), I gave 
them a piece of eight ^ to drink, and took my leave. 
This visit of mine offended him extremely ; for, when 
my mother some time after spoke to him of a recon- 
ciliation, and of her wishes to see us on good terms to- 
gether, and that we might live for the future as broth- 
ers, he said I had insulted him in such a manner 
before his people that he could never forget or forgive 
it. In this, however, he was mistaken. 

My father received the governor's letter with some 
apparent surprise, but said little of it to me for some 
days, when Captain Holmes returning he showed it to 
him, asked him if he knew Keith, and what kind of 
man he was ; adding his opinion that he must be of 
small discretion to think of setting a boy up in busi- 
ness who wanted yet three years of being at man's 
estate. Holmes said what he could in favor of the 
project, but my father was clear in the impropriety 
of it, and at last gave a flat denial to it. Then he 
wrote a civil letter to Sir William, thanking him for 
the patronage he had so kindly offered me, but declin- 
ing to assist me as yet in setting up, I being, in his 
opinion, too young to be trusted with the management 
of a business so important, and for which the prepa^ 
ration must be so expensive. 

^ That is, a Spanish dollar or piaster. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 43 

My friend and companion Collins, who was a clerk 
in the post-office, pleased with the account I gave him 
of my new country, determined to go thither also; 
and, while I waited for my father's determination, he 
set out before me by land to Khode Island, leaving 
his books, which were a pretty collection of mathemat- 
ics and natural philosophy, to come with mine and me 
to New York, where he proposed to wait for me. 

My father, though he did not approve Sir William's 
proposition, was yet pleased that I had been able to 
obtain so advantageous a character from a person of 
such note where I had resided, and that I had been so 
industrious and careful as to equip myself so hand- 
somely in so short a time ; therefore, seeing no pros- 
pect of an accommodation between my .brother and 
me, he gave his consent to my returning again to Phil- 
adelphia, advised me to behave respectfully to the peo- 
ple there, endeavor to obtain the general esteem, and 
avoid lampooning and libelling, to which he thought I 
had too much inclination ; telling me, that by steady 
industry and a prudent parsimony I might save enough 
by the time I was one-and-twenty to set me up ; and 
that, if I came near the matter, he would help me out 
with the rest. This was all I could obtain, exce'pt 
some small gifts as tokens of his and my mother's 
love, when I embarked again for New York, now with 
their approbation and their blessing. 

The sloop putting in at Newport, Rhode Island, I 
visited my brother John, who had been married and 
settled there some years. He received me very affec- 
tionately, for he always loved me. A friend of his, 
one Vernon, having some money due to him in Penn- 
sylvania, about thirty-five pounds currency, desired I 
would receive it for him, and keep it till I had his 



44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

directions what to remit it in. Accordingly, he gave 
me an order. This afterwards occasioned me a good 
deal of uneasiness. 

At Newport we took in a number of passengers for 
New York, among which were two young women, com- 
panions, and a grave, sensible, matron-like Quakei 
woman, with her attendants. I had shown an oblig- 
ing readiness to do her some little services, which im- 
pressed her I suppose with a degree of good will to- 
ward me ; therefore, when she saw a daily growing 
familiarity between me and the two young women, 
which they appeared to encourage, she took me aside, 
and said, " Young man, I am concerned for thee, as 
thou has no friend with thee, and seems not to know 
much of the world, or of the snares youth is exjDosed 
to ; depend upon it, those are very bad women ; I can 
see it in all their actions ; and if thee art not upon 
thy guard, they will draw thee into some danger ; they 
are strangers to thee, and I advise thee, in a friendly 
concern for thy welfare, to have no acquaintance with 
them." As I seemed at first not to think so ill of 
them as she did, she mentioned some things she had 
observed and heard that had escaped my notice, but 
now convinced me she was right. I thanked her for 
her kind advice, and promised to follow it. When 
we arrived at New York, they told me where they 
lived, and invited me to come and see them ; but I 
avoided it, and it was well I did ; for the next day the 
captain missed a silver spoon and some other things, 
that had been taken out of his cabin, and ... he 
got a warrant to search their lodgings, found the 
stolen goods, and had the thieves punished. So, 
though we had escaped a sunken rock, which we 
scraped upon in the passage, I thought this escape of 
rather more importance to me. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 45 

At New York I found my friend Collins, who had 
arrived there some time before me. We had been in- 
timate from children, and had read the same books 
together ; but he had the advantage of more time for 
reading and studying, and a wonderful genius for 
mathematical learning, in which he far outstripped me. 
While I lived in Boston, most of my hours of leisure 
for conversation were spent with him, and he contin- 
ued a sober as well as an industrious lad ; was much 
respected for his learning by several of the clergy and 
other gentlemen, and seemed to promise making a 
good figure in life. But, during my absence, he had 
acquired a habit of sotting with brandy ; and I found 
by his own account, and what I heard from others, 
that he had been drunk every day since his arrival at 
New York, and behaved very oddly. He had gamed, 
too, and lost his money, so that I was obliged to dis- 
charge his lodgings, and defray his expenses to and at 
Philadelphia, which proved extremely inconvenient to 
me. 

The then governor of New York, Burnet (son of 
Bishop Burnet), hearing from the captain that a 
young man, one of his passengers, had a great many 
books, desired he would bring me to see him. I 
waited upon him accordingly, and should have taken 
Collins with me but that he was not sober. The gov- 
ernor treated me with great civility, showed me his li- 
brary, which was a very large one, and we had a good 
deal of conversation about books and authors. This 
was the second governor who had done me the honor 
to take notice of me ; which, to a poor boy like me, 
was very pleasing. 

\Ye proceeded to Philadelphia. I received on the 
way Vernon's money, without which we could hardly 



46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

have finished our journey. Collins wished to be em- 
ployed in some counting-house ; but, whether they 
discovered his dramming by his breath, or by his 
behavior, though he had some recommendations, he 
met with no success in any application, and continued 
lodging and boarding at the same house with me, and 
at my expense. Knowing I had that money of Yer^ 
non's he was continually borrowing of me, still prom- 
ising repayment as soon as he should be in business. 
At length he had got so much of it that I was dis- 
tressed to think what I should do in case of being 
called on to remit it. 

His drinking continued, about which we sometimes 
quarrelled ; for, when a little intoxicated, he was very 
fractious. Once, in a boat on the Delaware with some 
other young men, he refused to row in his turn. '' I 
will be rowed home," says he. " We will not row 
you," says I. "You must, or stay all night on the 
water," says he, "just as you please." The others 
said, " Let us row ; what signifies it ? " But, my 
mind being soured with his other conduct, I continued 
to refuse. So he swore he would make me row, or 
throw me overboard ; and coming along, stepping on 
the thwarts, toward me, when he came up and struck 
at me, I clapped my hand under his crotch, and, ris- 
ing, pitched him head-foremost into the river. I knew 
he was a good swimmer, and so was under little con- 
cern about him ; but before he could get round to lay 
hold of the boat, we had with a few strokes pulled her 
out of his reach ; and ever when he drew near the 
boat, we asked if he would row, striking a few strokes 
to slide her away from him. He was ready to die 
with vexation, and obstinately would not promise to 
row. However, seeing him at last beginning to tire, 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 47 

we lifted him in and brought him home dripping wet 
in the evening. We hardly exchanged a civil word 
afterwards, and a West India captain, who had a 
commission to procure a tutor for the sons of a gen- 
tleman at Barbadoes, happening to meet with him, 
agreed to carry him thither. He left me then, prom- 
ising to remit me the first money he should receive in 
order to discharge the debt ; but I never heard of him 
after. 

The breaking into this money of Vernon's was one 
of the first great errata of my life ; and this affair 
showed that my father was not much out in his judg- 
ment when he supposed me too young to manage busi- 
ness of importance. But Sir William, on reading his 
letter, said he was too prudent. There was great dif- 
ference in persons; and discretion did not always 
accompany years, nor was youth always without it. 
" And since he will not set you up," says he, " I will 
do it myself. Give me an inventory of the things 
necessary to be had from England, and I will send 
for them. You shall repay me when you are able ; I 
am resolved to have a good printer here, and I am 
sure you must succeed." This was spoken with such 
an appearance of cordiality that I had not the least 
doubt of his meaning what he said. I had hitherto 
kept the proposition of my setting up a secret in Phil- 
adelphia, and I still kept it. Had it been known that 
I depended on the governor, probably some friend, 
that knew him better, would have advised me not to 
rely on him, as I afterwards heard it as his known 
character to be liberal of promises which he never 
meant to keep. Yet, unsolicited as. he was by me, 
how could I think his generous offers insincere? I 
believed him one of the best men in the world. 



48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

I presented him an inventory of a little printing- 
house, amounting by my computation to about one 
hundred pounds sterling. He liked it, but asked me 
if my being on the sjiot in England to choose the 
types, and see that everything was good of the kind, 
might not be of some advantage. " Then," says he, 
" when there, you may make acquaintances, and es- 
tablish correspondences in the book-selling and sta- 
tionery way." I agreed that this might be advanta- 
geous. " Then," says he, " get yourself ready to go 
with Annis," which was the annual ship, and the only 
one at that time usually passing between London and 
Philadelphia. But it would be some months before 
Annis sailed, so I continued working with Keimer, 
fretting about the money Collins had got from me, 
and in daily apprehensions of being called upon by 
Vernon, which, however, did not happen for some 
years after. 

I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my 
first voyage from Boston, being becalmed off Block 
Island, our people set about catching cod, and hauled 
up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to my reso- 
lution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion 
I considered, with my master Tryon, the taking every 
fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of 
them had, or ever could do us any injury that might 
justify the slaughter. All this seemed very reasona- 
ble. But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, 
and, when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt 
admirably well. I balanced some time between prin- 
ciple and inclination, till I recollected that, when the 
fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their 
stomachs ; then thought I, " If you eat one another, I 
don't see why we may n't eat you." So I dined upon 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 49 

cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other 
people, returning only now and then occasionally to a 
vegetable diet. So convenient a thing it is to be a 
reasonable creature^ since it enables one to find or 
make a reason for everything one has a mind to do. 

Ke^mer and I lived on a pretty good familiar foot- 
ing, and agreed tolerably well, for he suspected notho 
ing of my setting up. He retained a great deal of 
his old enthusiasm and loved argumentation. We 
therefore had many disputations. I used to work him 
so with my Socratic method, and trepanned him so 
often by questions apparently so distant from any 
point we had in hand, and yet by degrees led to the 
point, and brought him into difficulties and contradic- 
tions, that at last he grew ridiculously cautious, and 
would hardly answer me the most common question, 
without asking first, " What do you intend to infer 
from that ? " However, it gave him so high an opin- 
ion of my abilities in the confuting way, that he seri- 
ously proposed my being his colleague in a project he 
had of setting up a new sect. He was to preach the 
doctrines, and I was to confound all opponents. When 
he came to explain with me upon the doctrines, I 
found several conundrums which I objected to, unless 
I might have my way a little too, and introduce some 
of mine. 

Keimer wore his beard at full length, because some- 
where in the Mosaic law it is said, " Thou shalt not 
w,ar the corner a of thy heardP He likewise kept the 
Seventh day, Sabbath ; and these two points were 
essentials with him. I disliked both ; but agreed to 
admit them upon condition of his adopting the doc- 
trine of using no animal food. " I doubt," said he, 
" my constitution will not bear that." I assured him 



50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

it would, and that he would be the better for it. He 
was usually a great glutton, and I promised myself 
some diversion in half starving him. He agreed to 
try the practice, if I would keep him company. I did 
so, and we held it for three months. We had our vict- 
uals dressed, and brought to us regularly by a woman 
in the neighborhood, who had from me a list of forty 
dishes, to be prepared for us at different times, in all 
of which there was neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and 
the whim suited me the better at this time from the 
cheapness of it, not costing us above eighteen pence 
sterling each per week. I have since kept several 
Lents most strictly, leaving the common diet for that 
and that for the common, abruptly without the least 
inconvenience, so that I think that there is little in 
the advice of making those changes by easy gradations. 
I went on pleasantly, but poor Keimer suffered griev- 
ously, tired of the project, longed for the flesh-pots of 
Egypt, and ordered a roast pig. He invited me and 
two women friends to dine with him ; but, it being too 
soon upon the table, he could not resist the temptation, 
and ate the whole before we came. 

I had made some courtship during this time to Miss 
Read. I had a great respect and affection for her, 
and had some reason to believe she had the same for 
me ; but as I was about to take a long voyage, and we 
were both very young, only a little above eighteen, it 
was thought most prudent by her mother to prevent 
our going too far at present, as a marriage, if it was to 
take place, would be more convenient after my return, 
when I should be, as I expected, set up in my business. 
Perhaps, too, she thought my expectations not so well 
founded as I imagined them to be. 

My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 51 

Osborne, Joseph Watson, and James Ralph, all lovers 
of reading. The two first were clerks to an eminent 
scrivener or conveyancer in the town, Charles Brog- 
den ; the other was clerk to a merchant. Watson 
was a pious, sensible young man, of great integrity; 
the others rather more lax in their principles of relig- 
ion, particularly Ralph, who as well as Collins, had 
been unsettled by me, for which they both made me 
suffer. Osborne was sensible, candid, frank ; sincere 
and affectionate to his friends ; but in literary matters, 
too fond of criticising. Ralph was ingenious, genteel 
in his manners, and extremely eloquent ; I think I 
never knew a prettier talker. Both of them great ad- 
mirers of poetry, and began to try their hands in little 
pieces. Many pleasant walks we four had together on 
Sundays into the woods, near Schuylkill, where we 
read to one another, and conferred on what we read. 

Ralph was inclined to pursue the study of poetry, 
not doubting but he might become eminent in it and 
make his fortune by it, alleging that the best poets 
must, when they first began to write, make as many 
faults as he did. Osborne dissuaded him, assured him 
he had no genius for poetry, and advised him to think 
of nothing beyond the business he was bred to ; that 
in the mercantile way, though he had no stock, he 
might by his diligence and punctuality recommend 
himself to employment as a factor, and in time acquire 
wherewith to trade on his own account. I approved 
the amusing one's self with poetry now and then, so 
far as to improve one's language, but no farther. 

On this it was proposed that we should each of us, 
at our next meeting, produce a piece of our own com- 
posing, in order to improve by our mutual observa- 
tions, criticisms, and corrections. As language and 



52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

expression were what we had in view, we excluded all 
considerations of invention by agreeing that the task 
should be a version of the eighteenth Psalm, which 
describes the descent of a Deity. When the time of 
our meeting drew nigh, Ralph called on me first, and 
let me know his piece was ready. I told him I had 
been busy, and having little inclination, had done 
nothing. He then showed me his piece for my opin- 
ion, and I much approved it, as it appeared to me to 
have great merit. " Now," says he, " Qsborne never 
will allow the least merit in anything of mine, but 
makes a thousand criticisms out of mere envy. He is 
not so jealous of you ; I wish, therefore, you would 
take this piece, and produce it as yours ; I will pre- 
tend not to have had time, and so produce nothing. 
We shall then see what he will say to it." It was 
agreed, and I immediately transcribed it, that it might 
appear in my own hand. 

We met ; Watson's performance was read ; there 
were some beauties in it, but many defects. Osborne's 
was read ; it was much better ; Kalph did it justice ; 
remarked some faults, but applauded the beauties. 
He himself had nothing to produce. I was backward ; 
seemed desirous of being excused ; had not had suffi. 
cient time to correct, etc. ; but no excuse could be ad« 
mitted ; produce I must. It was read and repeated ; 
Watson and Osborne gave up the contest, and joined 
in applauding it. Ralph only made some criticisms, 
and proposed some amendments ; but I defended my 
text. Osborne was against Ralph, and told him he was 
no better a critic than poet, so he dropped the argu- 
ment. As they two went home together, Osborne ex- 
pressed himself still more strongly in favor of what he 
thought my production ; having restrained himself be« 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 53 

fore, as he said, lest I should think it flattery. " But 
who would haye imagined," said he, "that Franklin 
had been capable of such a performance ; such paint- 
ing, such force, such fire ! He has even improved the 
orio'inal. In his common conversation he seems to 

o 

have no choice of words ; he hesitates and blunders ; 
and yet, good God ! how he writes ! " When we next 
met, Ralph discovered the trick we had played him, 
and Osborne was a little laughed at. 

This transaction fixed Ralph in his resolution of be- 
coming a poet. I did all I could to dissuade him from 
it, but he continued scribbling verses till Pope cured 
him.i He became, however, a pretty good prose 
writer. More of him hereafter. But, as I may not 
have occasion again to mention the other two, I shall 
just remark here, that Watson died in my arms a few 
years after, much lamented, being the best of our set. 
Osborne went to the West Indies, where he became 
an eminent lawyer and made money, but died young. 
He and I had made a serious agreement, that the one 
who happened first to die should, if possible, make a 
friendly visit to the other, and acquaint him how he 
found things in that separate state. But he never ful- 
filled his promise. 

The governor, seeming to like my company, had me 
frequently to his house, and his setting me up was al- 
ways mentioned as a fixed thing. I was to take with 
me letters recommendatory to a number of his friends, 
besides the letter of credit to furnish me with the nec- 
essary money for purchasing the press and types, 

1 Alexander Pope in his Dunciad, a witty characterization in versa 
Df contemporary writers, has these lines : — 

" Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 
And makes night hideous — answer him, ye owls." 



54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

paper, etc. For these letters I was appointed to call 
at different times, when they were to be ready ; but a 
future time was still named. Thus he went on till the 
ship, whose departure too had been several times post- 
poned, was on the point of sailing. Then, when I 
called to take my leave and receive the letters, his sec- 
retary. Dr. Bard, came out to me and said the gov. 
ernor was extremely busy in writing, but would be 
down at Newcastle before the ship, and there the let- 
ters would be delivered to me. 

Kalph, though married, and having one child, had 
determined to accompany me in this voyage. It was 
thought he intended to establish a correspondence, 
and obtain goods to sell on commission ; but I found 
afterwards, that, through some discontent with his 
wife's relations, he purposed to leave her on their 
hands, and never return again. Having taken leave 
of my friends, and interchanged some promises with 
Miss Read, I left Philadelphia in the ship, which an- 
chored at Newcastle. The governor was there ; but 
when I went to his lodging, the secretary came to me 
from him with the ci vilest message in the world, that 
he could not then see me, being engaged in business 
of the utmost importance, but should send the letters 
to me on board, wished me heartily a good voyage and 
a speedy return, etc. I returned on board a little puz- 
zled, but still not doubting. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 55 



m. 

ADVENTURES IN LONDON. 

Me. Andeew Hamilton, a famous lawyer of PhiL 
adelphia, had taken passage in the same ship for him- 
self and son, and with Mr. Denham, a Quaker mer- 
chant, and Messrs. Onion and Russel, masters of an 
iron work in Maryland, had engaged the great cabin ; 
so that Kalph and I were forced to take up with a 
berth in the steerage, and none on board knowing us, 
were considered as ordinary persons. But Mr. Ham- 
ilton and his son (it was James, since governor) re- 
turned from Newcastle to Philadelphia, the father 
being recalled by a great fee to plead for a seized 
ship ; and, just before we sailed. Colonel French com- 
ing on board, and showing me great respect, I was 
more taken notice of, and, with my friend Ralph, in- 
vited by the other gentlemen to come into the cabin, 
there being now room. Accordingly, we removed 
thither. 

Understanding that Colonel French had brought on 
board the governor's dispatches, I asked the captain 
lor those letters that were to be under my care. He 
said all were put into the bag together and he could 
not then come at them ; but, before we landed in Eng- 
land, I should have an opportunity of picking them 
out ; so I was satisfied for the present, and we proceeded 
on our voyage. We had a sociable company in the 
cabin, and lived uncommonly well, having the addition 



56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

of all Mr. Hamilton's stores, who had laid in plenti- 
fully. In this passage Mr. Denham contracted a 
friendship for me that continued during his life. The 
voyage was otherwise not a pleasant one, as we had 
a great deal of bad weather. 

When we came into the Channel, the captain kept 
his word with me, and gave me an opportunity of ex« 
amining the bag for the governor's letters. I found 
none upon which my name was put as under my care. 
1 picked out six or seven, that, by the handwriting, I 
thought might be the promised letters, esj)ecially as 
one of them was directed to Basket, the king's printer, 
and another to some stationer. We arrived in Lon- 
don the 24th of December, 1724. I waited u23on the 
stationer, who came first in my way, delivering the 
letter as from Governor Keith. " I don't know such 
a person," says he ; but, opening the letter, " Oh ! this 
is from Riddlesden. I have lately found him to be a 
complete rascal, and I will have nothing to do with 
him, nor receive any letters from him." So, putting 
the letter into my hand, he turned on his heel and left 
me to serve some customer. I was surprised to find 
these were not the governor's letters ; and, after rec- 
ollecting and comparing circumstances, I began to 
doubt his sincerity. I found my friend Denham, and 
opened the whole affair to him. He let me into 
Keith's character ; told me there was not the least 
probability that he had written any letters for me ; 
that no one, who knew him, had the smallest depend- 
ence on him ; and he laughed at the notion of the gov- 
ernor's giving me a letter of credit, having, as he said, 
no credit to give. On my expressing some concern 
about what I should do, he advised me to endeavoi 
getting some employment in the way of my business 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 57 

"Among the printers here," said he, "you will im- 
prove yourself, and when you return to America, you 
will set up to greater advantage^" 

We both of us happened to know, as well as the 
stationer, that Riddlesden, the attorney, was a very 
knave. He had half ruined Miss Eead'a father by 
persuading him to be bound for him.^ By this letter 
it appeared there was a secret scheme on foot to the 
prejudice of Hamilton (supposed to be then coming 
over with us) ; and that Keith was concerned in it 
with Riddlesden. Denham, who was a friend of 
Hamilton's, thought he ought to be acquainted with 
it ; so, when he arrived in England, which was soon 
after, partly from resentment and ill-will to Keith 
and Riddlesden, and partly from good-will to him, I 
waited on him, and gave him the letter. He thanked 
me cordially, the information being of importance to 
him ; and from that time he became my friend, greatly 
to my advantage afterwards on many occasions. 

But what shall we think of a governor's playing 
such pitiful tricks, and imposing so grossly on a poor 
ignorant boy ! It was a habit he had acquired. He 
wished to please everybody ; and, having little to give, 
he gave expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious, 
sensible man, a pretty good writer, and a good gov- 
ernor for the people, though not for his constituents, 
the proprietaries, whose instructions he sometimes dis- 
regarded. Several of our best laws were of his plan- 
ning and passed during his administration. 

Ralph and I were inseparable companions. Wo 
took lodo^inofs too'ether in Little Britain at three shil- 
lings and sixpence a week — as much as we could then 

1 To be bound for him was to give security for the payment of a 
ttote. 



58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

afford. He found some relations, but they were poor, 
and unable to assist him. He now let me know his 
intentions of remaining in London, and that he never 
meant to return to Philadelphia. He had brought no 
money with him, the whole he could muster having 
been expended in paying his passage. I had fifteen 
pistoles ; so he borrowed occasionally of me to subsist, 
while he was looking out for business. He first endeav- 
ored to get into the playhouse, believing himself quali- 
fied for an actor ; but Wilkes,^ to whom he applied, 
advised him candidly not to think of that employment, 
as it was impossible he should succeed in it. Then he 
proposed to Eoberts, a publisher in Paternoster Row, 
to write for him a weekly paper like the Spectator^ 
on certain conditions, which Roberts did not approve. 
Then he endeavored to get employment as a hackney 
writer, to copy for the stationers and lawyers about 
the Temple, but could find no vacancy. 

I immediately got into work at Palmer's, then a 
famous i^rinting-house in Bartholomew Close, and 
here I continued near a year. I was pretty diligent, 
but spent with Ralph a good deal of my earnings in 
going to plays and other places of amusement. We 
had together consumed all my pistoles, and now just 
rubbed on from hand to mouth. He seemed quite to 
forget his wife and child, and I, by degrees, my en- 
gagements with Miss Read, to whom I never wrote 
more than one letter, and that was to let her know I 
was not likely soon to return. This was another of 
the great errata of my life, which I should wish to 
correct if I were to live it over again. In fact, by 
our expenses, I was constantly kept unable to pay my 
passage. 

1 A comedian of that time. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 59 

At Palmer's I was employed in composing for the 
second edition of Wollaston's Religion of Nature, 
Some of liis reasonings not a.ppearing to me well 
founded, I wrote a little metaphysical piece in which 
I made remarks on them. It was entitled A Disser^ 
tation on Liberty and Necessity^ Pleasure and Pain. 
I inscribed it to my friend Ralph ; I printed a small 
number. It occasioned my being more considered by 
Mr. Palmer as a young man of some ingenuity, though 
he seriously expostulated with me upon the principles 
of my pamphlet, which to him appeared abominable. 
My printing this pamphlet was another erratum. 
While I lodged in Little Britain, I made an acquaint- 
ance with one Wilcox, a bookseller, whose shop was 
at the next door. He had an immense collection of 
second-hand books. Circulating libraries were not 
then in use ; but we agreed that, on certain reasonable 
terms, which I have now forgotten, I might take, read, 
and return any of his books. This I esteemed a great 
advantage, and I made as much use of it as I could. 

My pamphlet by some means falling into the hands 
of one Lyons, a surgeon, author of a book entitled 
The Infallibility of Human Judgment^ it occasioned 
an acquaintance between us. He took great notice of 
me, called on me often to converse on those subjects, 

carried me to the Horns, a pale-ale house in Lane, 

Cheapside, and introduced me to Dr. Mandeville, au- 
thor of the Fable of the Bees who had a club there, 
of which he was the soul, being a most facetious, en- 
tertaining companion. Lyons, too, introduced me to 
Dr. Pemberton, at Batson's Coffee-house, who prom- 
ised to give me an opportunity, some time or other, of 
seeing Sir Isaac Newton, of which I was extremely 
desirous ; but this never happened. 



60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

I had brought over a few curiosities, among which 
the principal was a purse made of the asbestos, which 
purifies by fire. Sir Han?-; Sloane ^ heard of it, came 
to see me, and invited me to his house in Bloomsbury 
Square, where he showed me all his curiosities, and 
persuaded me to let him add that to the number, for 
which he paid me handsomely. 

In our house there lodged a young woman, a mil- 
liner, who, I think, had a sho]) in the Cloisters. . She 
had been genteelly bred, was sensible and lively, and 
of most pleasing conversation. Kalj)h read plays to 
her in the evenings, they grew intimate, she took an- 
other lodging and he followed her. They lived to- 
gether some time ; but he being still out of business, 
and her income not sufficient to maintain them with 
her child, he took a resolution of going from London, 
to try for a country school, which he thought himself 
well qualified to undertake, as he wrote an excellent 
hand, and was a master of arithmetic and accounts. 
This, however, he deemed a business below him, and 
confident of future better fortune, when he should be 
unwilling to have it known that he once was so meanly 
employed, he changed his name, and did me the honor 
to assume mine; for I soon after had a letter from 
him, acquainting me that he was settled in a small vil- 
lage (in Berkshire, I think it was, where he taught 
reading and writing to ten or a dozen boys, at sixpence 

each per week), recommending Mrs. T to my 

care, and desiring me to write to him, directing for 
Mr. Franklin, schoolmaster at such a place. 

1 Sir Hans Sloane Avas an EngVIsh physician who left to the nation, 
when he died in 1753, his large collection of curiosities and specimens 
of natural history. This gift was the foundation of the British Mu. 
BBum. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 61 

He continued to write frequently, sending me large 
specimens of an epic poem which he was then compos- 
ing, and desiring my remarks and corrections. These 
I gave him from time to time, but endeavored rather 
to discourage his proceeding. One of Young's Satires 
was then just published. I copied and sent him a 
great part of it, which set in a strong light the folly 
of pursuing the Muses with any hope of advancement 
by them. All was in vain ; sheets of the poem contin- 
ued to come by every post. In the mean time [other 
circumstances] . . . made a breach between us ; and, 
when he returned again to London, he let me know 
he thought I had cancelled all the obligations he had 
been under to me. So I found I was never to expect 
his repaying me what I lent to him, or advanced for 
him. This, however, was not then of much conse- 
quence, as he was totally unable ; and in the loss of 
his friendship I found myself relieved from a burden. 
I now began to think of getting a little money be- 
forehand, and, expecting better work, I left Palmer's 
to work at Watts's, near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a still 
greater printing house. Here I continued all the rest 
of my stay in London. 

At my first admission into this printing-house I 
took to working at press, imagining I felt a want of 
the bodily exercise I had been used to in America, 
where presswork is mixed with composing. I drank 
only water ; the other workmen, near fifty in number, 
were great guzzlers of beer. On occasion, I carried 
up and down stairs a large form of types in each 
hand, when others carried but one in both hands. 
They wondered to see, from this and several instances, 
that the Water-American^ as they called me, was 
stronger than themselves, who drank strong beer! 



62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

We had an alehouse boy who attended always in the 
house to supply the workmen. My companion at the 
press drank every day a pint before breakfast, a pint 
at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a pint between 
breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the 
afternoon about six o'clock, and another when he had 
done his day's work. I thought it a detestable cus- 
tom ; but it was necessary, he supposed, to drink 
stro?ig beer, that he might be stro7ig to labor. I en- 
deavored to convince him that the bodily strength 
afforded by beer could only be in proportion to the 
grain or flour of the barley dissolved in the water of 
which it was made ; that there was more flour in a 
pennyworth of bread ; and therefore, if he would eat 
that with a pint of water, it would give him more 
strength than a quart of beer. He drank on, however, 
and had four or five shillings to pay out of his wages 
every Saturday night for that muddling liquor; an 
expense I was free from. And thus these poor devils 
keep themselves always under. 

Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in 
the composing-room, I left the pressmen ; a new hien 
vemi or sum for drink, being five shillings, was de- 
manded of me by the compositors. I thought it an 
imposition, as I had paid below ; the master thought 
so too, and forbade my paying it. I stood out two or 
three weeks, was accordingly considered as an excom- 
municate, and had so many little pieces of private 
mischief done me, by mixing my sorts, transposing 
my Images, breaking my matter, etc., etc., if I were 
ever so little out of the room, and all ascribed to the 
chapel ghost, which they said ever haunted those not 
regularly admitted, that, notwithstanding the master's 
protection, I found myself obliged to comply and pay 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 63 

fche money, convinced of the folly of being on ill terms 
with those one is to live with continually. 

I was now on a fair footing with them, and soon ac- 
quired considerable influence. I proposed some rea- 
sonable alterations in their chapel laws, and carried 
them against all opposition. From my example, a- 
great part of them left their muddling breakfast of 
beer, and bread, and cheese, finding they could, with 
me, be supplied from a neighboring house with a large 
porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, 
crumbed with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for the 
price of a pint of beer, viz., three half -pence. This 
was a more comfortable as well as cheaper breakfast, 
and kept their heads clearer. Those who continued 
sotting with beer all day were often, by not paying, 
out of credit at the alehouse, and used to make inter- 
est with me to get beer ; their lights as they phrased 
it, hehig out. I watched the pay-table on Saturday 
night, and collected what I stood engaged for them, 
having to pay sometimes near thirty shillings a week 
on their accounts. This, and my being esteemed a 
pretty good riggit-e, that is, a jocular, verbal satirist, 
supported my consequence in the society. My constant 
attendance (I never making a St. Monday ^) recom- 
mended me to the master ; and my uncommon quick- 
ness at composing occasioned my being put upon all 
work of dispatch, which was generally better paid. 
So I went on now very agreeably. 

My lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I 
found another in Duke Street, opposite to the Romish 
ehapel. It was two pair of stairs backwards, at an 

1 That is, never turning Monday into a holiday, as other workmen 
did, who, when paid Saturday night, squandered their earnings in 
ilrink and were good, for nothing before Tuesday. 



64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Italian warehouse. A widow lady kept the house; 
she had a daughter, and a maid servant, and a jour- 
neyman who attended the warehouse, but lodged 
abroad. After sending to inquire my character at the 
house where I last lodged, she agTeed to take me in at 
the same rate, 3s. Q>d. per week ; cheaper, as she said, 
from the protection she expected in having a man 
lodge in the house. She was a widow, an elderly 
woman ; had been bred a Protestant, being a clergy- 
man's daughter, but was converted to the Catholic re- 
ligion by her husband, whose memory she much re- 
vered ; had lived much among people of distinction, 
and knew a thousand anecdotes of them as far back as 
the times of Charles the Second. She was lame in 
her knees with the gout, and, therefore, seldom stirred 
out of her room, so sometimes wanted company ; and 
hers was so highly amusing to me, that I was sure to 
spend an evening with her whenever she desired it. 
Our supper was only half an anchovy each, on a very 
little strip of bread and butter, and half a pint of ale 
between us ; but the entertainment was in her conver- 
sation. My always keeping good hours, and giving 
little trouble in the family, made her unwilling to part 
with me ; so that, when I talked of a lodging I had 
heard of, nearer my business, for two shillings a week, 
which, intent as I now was on saving money, made 
some difference, she bid me not think of it, for she 
would abate me two shillings a week for the future ; 
so I remained with her at one shilling and sixpence as 
long as I stayed in London. 

In a garret of her house there lived a maiden lady 
of seventy, in the most retired manner, of whom my 
landlady gave me this account : that she was a Roman 
Catholic, had been sent abroad when young, and 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 65 

/oclged in a nunnery with an intent of becoming a 
nun ; but, the country not agreeing with her, she re- 
turned to England, where, there being no nunnery, 
she had vowed to lead the life of a nun, as near as 
might be done in those circumstances. Accordingly,, 
she had given all her estate to charitable uses, reserv- 
ing only twelve pounds a year to live on, and out of 
this sum she still gave a great deal in charity, living 
herself on water-gruel only, and using no fire but to 
boil it. She had lived many years in that garret, be- 
ing permitted to remain there gratis by successive 
Catholic tenants of the house below, as they deemed 
it a blessing to have her there. A priest visited her 
to confess her every day. " I have asked her," says 
my landlady, "how she, as she lived, could possibly 
find so much employment for a confessor?" "Oh," 
said she, " it is impossible to avoid vain thoughts^ I 
was permitted once to visit her. She was cheerful 
and polite, and conversed pleasantly. The room was 
clean, but had no other furniture than a mattress, a 
table with a crucifix and book, a stool which she gave 
me to sit on, and a j)icture over the chimney of Saint 
Veronica displaying her handkerchief, with the mirac- 
ulous figure of Christ's bleeding face on it, which she 
explained to me with great seriousness. She looked 
pale, but was never sick ; and I give it as another in- 
stance on how small an income life and health may be 
supported. 

At Watts's printing-house I contracted an acquaint- 
ance with an ingenious young man, one Wygate, who, 
having wealthy relations, had been better educated 
than most printers ; was a tolerable Latinist, spoke 
French, and loved reading. I taught him and a friend 
of his to swim at twice going into the river, and they 



66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

soon became good swimmers. They introduced me to 
some gentlemen from the country, who went to Chel- 
sea by water to see the College and Don Saitero's cu- 
riosities. In our return, at the request of the com- 
pany, whose curiosity Wygate had excited, I stripped 
and leaj^ed into the river, and swam from near Chel- 
sea to Blackfriar's, performing on the way many feats 
of activity, both upon and under water, that surj)rised 
and pleased those to whom they were novelties. 

I had from a child been ever delighted w^ith this 
exercise, had studied and practised all Thevenot's 
motions and positions, added some of my own, aiming 
at the gTaceful and easy as well as the useful. All 
these I took this occasion of exhibiting to the com- 
pany, and was much flattered by their admiration ; 
and Wygate, who was desirous of becoming a master, 
grew more and more attached to me on that account, 
as well as from the similarity of our studies. He at 
length proposed to me travelling all over Europe to- 
gether, supporting ourselves everywhere by working 
at our business. I was once inclined to it ; but, men- 
tioning it to my good friend Mr. Denham, with whom 
I often spent an hour when I had leisure, he dissuaded 
me from it, advising me to think only of returning to 
Pennsylvania, which he was now about to do. 

I must record one trait of this good man's charac- 
ter. He had formerly been in business at Bristol, but 
failed in debt to a number of people, compounded and 
went to America. There, by a close application to 
business as a merchant, he acquired a plentiful fortune 
in a few years. Returning to England in the ship 
with me, he invited his old creditors to an entertain- 
ment, at which he thanked them for the easy compo- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 67 

sition tliey had favored him with, and> when they ex- 
pected nothing but the treat, every man at the first 
remove found under his plate an order on a banker 
for the full amount of the unpaid remainder with in- 
terest. 

He now told me he was about to return to PhiladeL 
phia, and should carry over a great quantity of goods 
in order to open a store there. He proposed to take 
me over as his clerk, to keep his books, in which he 
would instruct me, copy his letters, and attend the 
store. He added that, as soon as I should be ac- 
quainted with mercantile business, he would promote 
me by sending me with a cargo of flour and bread, 
etc., to the West Indies, and procure me commissions 
from others which would be profitable ; and if I man- 
aged well, would establish me handsomely. The thing 
pleased me; for I was grown tired of London, re- 
membered with pleasure the happy months I had 
spent in Pennsylvania, and wished again to see it; 
therefore I immediately agreed on the terms of fifty 
pounds a year, Pennsylvania money ; less, indeed, than 
my present gettings as a compositor, but affording a 
better prospect. 

I now took leave of printing, as I thought, forever, 
and was daily employed in my new business, going 
about with Mr. Denham among the tradesmen to pur- 
chase various articles, and seeing them packed up, 
doing errands, calling upon workmen to dispatch, 
etc. ; and when all was on board, I had a few days' 
leisure. On one of these days, I was, to my surprise, 
sent for by a great man I knew only by name, a Sir 
William Wyndham, and I waited upon him. He had 
heard by some means or other of my swimming from 



68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Chelsea to Blackfriar's, and of my teaching Wygate 
and another young man to swim in a few hours. He 
had two sons, about to set out on their travels ; he 
wished to have them first taught swimming, and pro- 
posed to gratify me handsomely if I would teach them. 
They were not yet come to town, and my stay was un- 
certain, so I could not undertake it ; but from this in- 
cident, I thought it likely that, if I were to remain in 
England and open a swimming-school, I might get a 
good deal of money; and it struck me so strongly 
that, had the overture been sooner made me, probably 
I should not so soon have returned to America. After 
many years, you and I had something of more impor- 
tance to do with one of these sons of Sir William 
Wynclham, become Earl of Egremont, which I shall 
mention in its place. 

Thus I spent about eighteen months in London ; 
most part of the time I worked hard at my business, 
and spent but little upon myself except in seeing plays 
and in books. My friend Ralph had kept me poor ; 
he owed me about twenty-seven pounds, which I was 
now never likely to receive ; a great sum out of my 
small earnings I I loved him, notwithstanding, for he 
had many amiable qualities. I had by no means im- 
proved my fortune ; but I had picked up some very 
ingenious acquaintances, whose conversation was of 
great advantage to me ; and I had read considerably. 

We sailed from Gravesend on the 23d of July, 
1726. For the incidents of the voyage, I refer you 
to my Journal, where you will find them all minutely 
related. Perhaps the most important part of that 
journal is the 2^l<^f^''^ ^ to be found in it which I formed 

1 This plan was not found in the manuscript journal. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



69 



at sea, for regulating my future conduct in life. It is 
the more remarkable, as being formed when I was so 
young, and yet being pretty faithfully adhered to quite 
through to old age. 




Franklin's Printing Press 



7G AUTOBIOGRAPHY. OF 



IV. 

RETUKN TO PHILADELPHIA. 

We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of October, 
where I found sundry alterations. Keith was no 
longer governor, being superseded by Major Gordon. 
I met him walking the streets as a common citizen. 
He seemed a little ashamed at seeing me, but passed 
without saying anything. I should have been as much 
ashamed at seeing Miss Eead, had not her friends, 
despairing with reason of my return after the receipt 
of my letter, persuaded her to marry another, one 
Rogers, a potter, which was done in my absence. With 
him, however, she was never happy, and soon parted 
from him, refusing to cohabit with him or bear his 
name, it now being said that he had another wife. He 
was a worthless fellow, though an excellent workman, 
which was the temptation to her friends. He got into 
debt, ran away in 1727 or 1728, went to the West In- 
dies, and died there. Keimer had got a better house, 
a shop well supplied with stationery, plenty of new 
types, a number of hands, though none good, and 
seemed to have a great deal of business. 

Mr. Denham took a store in Water Street, where 
we opened our goods ; I attended the business dili- 
gently, studied accounts, and grew, in a little time, 
expert at selling. We lodged and boarded together ; 
he counselled me as a father, having a sincere regard 
for me. I respected and loved him, and we might 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 71 

have goae on together very happy ; but in the begin- 
ning of February, 172f, when I had just passed my 
twenty-first year, we both were taken ill. My distem- 
per was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me offo 
I suffered a good deal, gave up the point in my own 
mind, and was rather disappointed when I found my- 
self recovering, regretting, in some degree, that I must 
now, some time or other, have all that disagreeable 
work to do over again. I forget what his distemper 
was ; it held him a long time, and at length carried 
him off. He left me a small legacy in a nuncupative 
will as a token of his kindness for me, and he left me 
once more to the wide world ; for the store was taken 
into the care of his executors, and my employment 
under him ended. 

My brother-in-law. Holmes, being now at Philadel- 
phia, advised my return to my business ; and Keimer 
tempted me, with an offer of large wages by the year, 
to come and take the management of his printing- 
house, that he might better attend his stationer's shop. 
I had heard a bad character of him in London from his 
wife and her friends, and was not fond of having any 
more to do with him. I tried for further employment 
as a merchant's clerk ; but not readily meeting with 
any, I closed again with Keimer. I found in his house 
these hands : Hugh Meredith, a Welsh Pennsylvanian, 
thirty years of age, bred to country work ; honest, sen- 
sible, had a great deal of solid observation, was some- 
thing of a reader, but given to drink. Stephen Potts, 
a young countryman of full age, bred to the same, of 
uncommon natural parts, and great wit and humor, but 
a little idle. These he had agreed with at extreme 
low wages per week, to be raised a shilling every three 
months, as they would deserve by improving in their 



^ 



72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

business ; and the expectation of these high wages, to 
come on hereafter, was what he had drawn them in 
with. Meredith was to work at press, Potts at book- 
binding, which he, by agreement, was to teach them, 

though he knew neither one nor the other. John , 

a wild Irishman, brought up to no business, whose 
service, for four years, Keimer had purchased from 
the captain of a ship ; he, too, was to be made a press- 
man. George Webb, an Oxford scholar, whose time 
for four years he had likewise bought,^ intending him 
for a compositor, of whom more presently ; and David 
Harry, a country boy, whom he had taken apprentice. 

I soon perceived that the intention of engaging me 
at wao:es so much higher than he had been used to 
give was to have these raw, cheap hands formed 
through me ; and as soon as I had instructed them, 
then they being all articled to him, he should be able 
to do without me. I went on, however, very cheer- 
fully, put his printing-house in order, which had been 
in great confusion, and brought his hands by degrees 
to mind their business and to do it better. 

It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in 
the situation of a bought servant. He was not more 
than eighteen years of age, and gave me this account 
of himself ; that he was born in Gloucester, educated 
at a grammar-school there, had been distinguished 
among the scholars for some apparent superiority in 
performing his part, when they exhibited plays ; be- 
longed to the Witty Club there, and had written some 
pieces in prose and verse, which were printed in the 
Gloucester newspapers ; thence he was sent to Oxford ; 
where he continued about a year, but not well satiS' 

1 Persons coming' penniless from Eiirope sold themselves for a tern) 
of years to pay the expense of their voyage and their keeping. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 73 

fied, wishing of all things to see London, and become 
a player. At length receiving his quarterly allowance 
of fifteen guineas, instead of discharging his debts he 
walked out of town, hid his gown in a furze bush, and 
footed it to London, where, having no friend to advise 
him, he fell into bad company, soon spent his guineas, 
found no means of being introduced among the play- 
ers, grew necessitous, pawned his clothes, and wanted 
bread. Walking the street very hungry, and not 
knowing what to do with himself, a crimp's bill was 
put into his hand, offering immediate entertainment 
and encouragement to such as would bind themselves 
to serve in America. He went directly, signed the 
indentures, was put into the ship, and came over, 
never writing a line to acquaint his friends what was 
become of him. He was lively, witty, good-natured, 
and a pleasant companion, but idle, thoughtless, and 
imprudent to the last degree. 

John, the Irishman, soon ran away ; with the rest 
I began to live very agreeably, for they all respected 
me the more, as they found Keimer incapable of in- 
structing them, and that from me they learned some- 
thing daily. We never worked on Saturday, that be- 
ing Keimer' s Sabbath, so I had two days for reading. 
My acquaintance with ingenious people in the town 
increased. Keimer himself treated me with great ci- 
vility and apparent regard, and nothing now made me 
luneasy but my debt to Vernon, which I was yet unable 
to pay, being hitherto but a poor economist. He, how- 
ever, kindly made no demand of it. 

Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there 
was no letter-founder in America ; I had seen types 
east at James's in London, but without much atten- 
tion to the manner ; however, I now contrived a mould, 



74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

made use of the letters we liad as puncheons, struck 
the matrices in lead, and thus supplied in a pretty tol- 
erable way all deficiencies. I also engraved several 
things on occasion ; I made the ink ; I was ware- 
houseman, and everj^thing, and, in short, quite a fac- 
totum. 

But, however serviceable I might be, I found that 
my services became every day of less importance, as 
the other hands improved in the business ; and when 
Keimer paid my second quarter's wages, he let me 
know that he felt them too heavy, and thought I 
should make an abatement. He grew by degrees less 
civil, put on more of the master, frequently found 
fault, was captious, and seemed ready for an outbreak- 
ing. I went on, nevertheless, with a good deal of pa- 
tience, thinking that his incumbered circumstances 
were partly the cause. At length a trifle snapped our 
connections ; for, a great noise happening near the 
court-house, I put my head out of the window to see 
what was the matter. Keimer, being in the street, 
looked up and saw me, called out to me in a loud voice 
and angry tone to mind my business, adding some re- 
proachful words, that nettled me the more for their 
publicity, all the neighbors who were looking out on 
the same occasion being witnesses how I was treated. 
He came up immediately into the printing-house, con- 
tinued the quarrel, high words passed on both sides, 
he gave me the quarter's warning we had stipulated, 
expressing a wish that he had not been obliged to so 
long a warning. I told him his wish was unnecessary, 
for I would leave him that instant ; and so, taking my 
hat, walked out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom ] 
saw below, to take care of some things 1 left, and 
bring them to my lodgings. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 75 

Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when we 
talked my affair over. He had conceived a great re- 
gard for me, and was very unwilling that I should 
leave the house while he remained in it. He dissuaded 
me from returning to my native country, which I be= 
gan to think of ; he reminded me that Keimer was in 
debt for all he possessed ; that his creditors began to 
be uneasy ; that he kept his shop miserably, sold often 
without profit for ready money, and often trusted 
without keeping accounts ; that he must therefore fail, 
which would make a vacancy I might profit of. I ob- 
jected my want of money. He then let me know that 
his father had a high opinion of me, and from some 
discourse that had passed between them, he was sure 
would advance money to set us up, if I would enter 
into partnership with him. "My time," says he, "will 
be out with Keimer in the spring ; by that time we 
may have our press and types in from London. I am 
sensible I am no workman ; if you like it, your skill 
in the business shall be set against the stock I furnish, 
and we will share the profits equally." 

The proposal was agreeable, and I consented ; his 
father was in town and approved of it ; the more as 
he saw I had great influence with his son, had pre- 
vailed on him to abstain long from dram-drinking, 
and he hoped might break him of that wretched habit 
entirely, when we came to be so closely connected. I 
gave an inventory to the father, who carried it to a 
rfierchant ; the things were sent for, the secret was to 
be kept till they should arrive, and in the mean time I 
was to get work, if I could, at the other printing- 
house. But I found no vacancy there, and so remaibed 
idle a few days, when Keimer, on a prospect of being 
employed to print some paper money in New Jersey, 



76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

which would require cuts and various types that I only 
could supply, and apprehending Bradford might en- 
gage me and get the job from him, sent me a very 
civil message, that old friends should not part for a 
few words, the effect of sudden passion, and wishing 
me to return. Meredith persuaded me to comply, as 
it would give more opportunity for his improvement 
under my daily instructions ; so I returned, and we 
went on more smoothly than for some time before. 
The New Jersey job was obtained, I contrived a cop- 
per-plate press for it, the first that had been seen in 
the country; I cut several ornaments and checks for 
the bills. We went together to Burlington, where I 
executed the whole to satisfaction; and he received so 
large a sum for the work as to be enabled thereby to 
keep his head much longer above water. 

At Burlington I made an acquaintance with many 
principal j^eople of the province. Several of them 
had been appointed by the Assembly a committee to 
attend the press, and take care that no more bills were 
printed than the law directed. They were, therefore, 
by turns, constantly with us, and generally he who at- 
tended brought with him a friend or two for company. 
My mind having been much more improved by read- 
ing than Keimer's, I suppose it was for that reason 
my conversation seemed to be more valued. They had 
me to their houses, introduced me to their friends, and 
showed me much civilit}^ ; while he, though the mas- 
ter, was a little neglected. In truth, he was an odd 
fish ; ignorant of common life, fond of rudely oppos- 
ing received opinions, slovenly to extreme dirtiness^ 
enthusiastic in some points of religion, and a little 
knavish withal. 

We continued there near three months ; and by 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 77 

that time, I could reckon among my acquired friends, 
Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the secretary of the 
province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and several 
of the Smiths, members of Assembly, and Isaac De- 
cow, the surveyor-general. The latter was a shrewd, 
sagacious old man, who told me that he began for 
himself, when young, by wheeling clay for the brick- 
makers, learned to write after he was of age, carried 
the chain for surveyors, who taught him surveying, 
and he had now by his industry acquired a good es- 
tate ; and says he, " I foresee that you will soon work 
this man out of his business, and make a fortune in it 
at Philadelphia." He had not then the least intima- 
tion of my intention to set up there or anywhere. 
These friends were afterwards of great use to me, as I 
occasionally was to some of them. They all continued 
their regard for me as long as they lived. 

Before I enter upon my public appearance in busi- 
ness, it may be well to let you know the then state of 
my mind with regard to my principles and morals, 
that you may see how far those influenced the future 
events of my life. My parents had early given me 
religious impressions, and brought me through my 
childhood piously in the Dissenting way. But I was 
scarce fifteen when, after doubting by turns of several 
points, as I found them disputed in the different books 
I read, I began to doubt of Eevelation itself. Some 
books against Deism fell into my hands; they were 
said to be the substance of sermons preached at 
Boyle's Lectures. It happened that they wrought an 
effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by 
them ; for the arguments of the Deists, which were 
quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger 
than the refutations ; in short, I soon became a thor- 



78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ough Deist. My arguments perverted some others, 
particularly Collins and Kalpli; but each of them 
having afterwards wronged me greatly without the 
least compunction, and recollecting Keith's conduct 
towards me (who was another freethinker), and my 
own towards Vernon and Miss Read, which at times 
gave me great trouble, I began to suspect that this 
doctrine, though it might be true, was not very useful. 
My London pamphlet, which had for its motto these 
lines of Dryden : — 

" Whatever is, is rig-ht. Though purhlind man 
Sees but a part o' the chain, the nearest link : 
His eyes not carrying' to the equal beam, 
That poises all above ; ' ' 

and from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, 
goodness, and power, concluded that nothing could 
possibly be wrong in the world, and that vice and vir- 
tue were empty distinctions, no such things existing, 
appeared now not so clever a performance as I once 
thought it ; and I doubted whether some error had not 
insinuated itself unperceived into my argument, so as 
to infect all that followed, as is common in metaphys- 
ical reasonings. 

I grew convinced that truths sincerity, and integrity 
in dealings between man and man were of the utmost 
importance to the felicity of life ; and I formed writ- 
ten resolutions, which still remain in my journal book, 
to practise them ever while I lived. Revelation had 
indeed no weight with me, as such ; but I entertained 
an opinion that, though certain actions might not be 
bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because 
it commanded them, yet probably those actions might 
be forbidden because they were bad for us, or com- 
manded because they were beneficial to us, in their 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 79 

own natu^-es, all the circumstances of things consid- 
ered. And this persuasion, with the kind hand of 
Providence, or some guardian angel, or accidental fa- 
vorable circumstances and situations, or all together, 
preserved me, through this dangerous time of youth, 
and the hazardous situations I was sometimes in 
among strangers, remote from the eye and advice of 
my father, without any wilful gross immorality or in- 
justice, that might have been expected from my want 
of religion. I say wilful, because the instances I have 
mentioned had something of necessity in them, from 
my youth, inexperience, and the knavery of others. I 
had, therefore, a tolerable character to begin the world 
with; I valued it properly, and determined to pre- 
serve it. 

We had not been long returned to Philadelphia be- 
fore the new types arrived from London. We settled 
with Keimer, and left him by his consent before he 
heard of it. We found a house to hire near the mar- 
ket, and took it. To lessen the rent, which was then 
but twenty-four pounds a year, though I have since 
known it to let for seventy, we took in Thomas God- 
frey, a glazier, and his family, who w^ere to pay a con- 
siderable part of it to us, and we to board with them. 
We had scarce opened our letters and put our press 
in order, before George House, an acquaintance of 
mine, brought a countryman to us, whom he had met 
in the street inquiring for a printer. All our cash 
was now expended in the variety of particulars we had 
been obliged to procure, and this countryman's five 
shillings, being our first-fruits, and coming so season- 
ably, gave me more pleasure than any crown I have 
since earned ; and the gratitude I felt toward House 
has made me often more ready than perhaps I should 
otherwise have been to assist young beginners. 



80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

There are croakers in every country, always boding 
its ruin. Such a one then lived in Philadelphia; a 
person of note, an elderly man, with a wise look and 
a very grave manner of speaking ; his name was Sam- 
uel Mickle. This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopped 
one day at my door, and asked me if I was the young 
man who had lately opened a new j)rinting-house. 
Being answered in the affirmative, he said he was 
sorry for me, because it was an expensive undertak- 
ing, and the expense would be lost ; for Philadelphia 
was a sinking place, the people already half bank- 
rupts, or near being so ; all appearances to the con- 
trary, such as new buildings and the rise of rents, be- 
ing to his certain knowledge fallacious ; for they were, 
in fact, among the things that would soon ruin us. 
And he gave me such a detail of misfortunes now ex- 
isting, or that were soon to exist, that he left me half 
melancholy. Had I known him before I engaged in 
this business, probably I never should have done it. 
This man continued to live in this decaying place, and 
to declaim in the same strain, refusing for many years 
to buy a house there, because all was going to destruc- 
tion ; and at last I had the pleasure of seeing him give 
five times as much for one as he might have bought it 
for when he first began his croaking. 

I should have mentioned before that, in the autumn 
of the preceding year, I had formed most of my inge- 
nious acquaintance into a club of mutual improve- 
ment, which we called the Junto ; we met on Friday 
evenings. The rules that I drew up required that 
every member, in his turn, should produce one or 
more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Nat 
urai Philosophy, to be discussed by the company ; and 
once in three months produce and read an essay of his 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 81 

own writing, on any subject lie pleased. Our debates 
were to be under the direction of a president, and to 
be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after 
truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of vic- 
tory; and to prevent warmth, all expressions of posi- 
tiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after 
some time made contraband, and prohibited under 
small pecuniary penalties. 

The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a copier 
of deeds for the scriveners, a good-natured, friendly, 
middle-aged man, a great lover of poetry, reading all 
he could meet with, and writing some that was toler- 
able; very ingenious in many little knicknackeries, and 
of sensible conversation. 

Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, great 
in his way, and afterward inventor of what is now 
called Hadley's Quadrant. But he knew little out of 
his way, and was not a pleasing companion ; as, like 
most great mathematicians I have met with, he ex- 
pected universal precision in everything said, or was 
forever denying or distinguishing upon trifles, to the 
disturbance of all conversation. He soon left us. 

Nicholas Scull, a surveyor, afterward surveyor-gen- 
eral, who loved books, and sometimes made a few 
verses. 

William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but, loving 
reading, had acquired a considerable share of mathe- 
matics, which he first studied with a view to astrology, 
and afterwards laughed at it. He also became sur- 
veyor-general. 

William Maugridge, a joiner, a most exquisite me- 
chanic, and a solid, sensible man. 

Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb 
I have characterized beforCo 



82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune, 
generous, lively, and witty ; a lover of punning and of 
his friends. 

And William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk, 
about my age, who had the coolest, clearest head, the 
best heart, and the exactest morals of almost any man 
I ever met with. He became afterwards a merchant 
of great note, and one of our provincial judges. Our 
friendship continued without interruption to his death, 
upward of forty years ; and the club continued almost 
as long, and was the best school of philosophy, moral- 
ity, and politics that then existed in the province ; for 
our queries, which were read the week preceding their 
discussion, put us upon reading with attention upon 
.the several subjects, that we might speak more to the 
purpose ; and here, too, we acquired better habits of 
conversation, everything being studied in our rules 
which might prevent our disgusting each other. From 
hence the long continuance of the club, which I shall 
have frequent occasion to speak further of hereafter. 

But my giving this account of it here is to show 
something of the interest I had, every one of these ex- 
erting themselves in recommending business to us. 
Breintnal particularly procured us from the Quakers 
the printing of forty sheets of their history, the rest 
being done by Keimer ; and upon this we worked 
exceedingly hard, for the price was low. It was a 
folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long primer notes. 
I composed of it a sheet a day, and Meredith worked 
it off at press; it was often eleven at night, and some- 
times later, before I had finished my distribution for 
the next day's work, for the little jobs sent in by out 
other friends now and then put us back. But so de- 
termined I was to continue doing a sheet a day of the 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 83 

folio, that one night, when, having imposed my forms, 
I thought my clay's work over, one of them by acci- 
dent was broken, and two pages reduced to pi, I im- 
•mediately distributed and composed it over again be- 
fore I went to bed ; and this industry, visible to our 
neighbors, began to give us character and credit ; par- 
ticularly, I was told, that mention being made of the 
new printing-office at the merchants' Every-night club, 
the general opinion was that it must fail, there being 
already two printers in the place, Keimer and Brad- 
ford ; but Dr. Baird (whom you and I saw many years 
after at his native place, St. Andrew's in Scotland) 
gave a contrary opinion : " For the industry of that 
Franklin," says he, " is superior to anything I ever 
saw of the kind ; I see him still at work when I go 
home from club, and he is at work again before his 
neighbors are out of bed." This struck the rest, and 
we soon after had offers from one of them to supply 
us with stationery ; but as yet we did not choose to en- 
gage in shop business. 

I mention this industry the more particularly and 
the more freely, though it seems to be talking in my 
own praise, that those of my posterity who shall read 
it may know the use of that virtue, when they see its 
effects in my favor throughout this relation. 

George Webb, who had found a female friend that 
lent him wherewith to purchase his time of Keimer, 
now came to offer himself as a journeyman to us. We 
could not then employ him ; but I foolishly let him 
know as a secret that I soon intended to begin a news- 
paper, and might then have work for him. My hopes 
of success, as I told him, were founded on this, that 
the then only newspaper, printed by Bradford, was a 
paltry thing, wretchedly managed, no way entertain' 



84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing, and yet was profitable to him ; I therefore thought 
a good paper would scarcely fail of good encourage- 
ment. I requested Webb not to mention it ; but he 
told it to Keimer, who immediately, to be beforehand* 
with me, published proposals for printing one himself, 
on which Webb was to be employed. I resented this ; 
and to counteract them, as I could not yet begin our 
paper, I wrote several pieces of entertainment for 
Bradford's ]3aper, under the title of the Busy Body, 
which Breintnal continued some months. By this 
means the attention of the public w^as fixed on that 
paper, and Keimer's proposals, which we burlesqued 
and ridiculed, were disregarded. He began his paper, 
however, and, after carrying it on three quarters of a 
year, with at most only ninety subscribers, he offered 
it to me for a trifle ; and I, having been ready some 
time to go on with it, took it in hand directly ; and it 
proved in a few years extremely profitable to me. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 85 



m BUSINESS FOR HIMSELF. 

I PERCEIVE that I am apt to speak in the singular 
number, though our partnership still continued; the 
reason may be that, in fact, the whole management of 
the business lay upon me. Meredith was no compos- 
itor, a poor pressman, and seldom sober. My friends 
lamented my connection with him, but I was to make 
the best of it. 

Our first papers made a quite different appearance 
from any before in the province ; a better type, and 
better printed ; but some spirited remarks of my writ- 
ing, on the dispute then going on between Governor 
Burnet and the Massachusetts Assembly ,i struc)?: the 
principal people, occasioned the paper and the man- 
ager of it to be much talked of, and in a few weeks 
brought them all to be our subscribers. 

Their eldmjtle was followed by many, and our num- 
ber went on growing continually. This was one of 
the first good effects of my having learned a little to 
scribble ; another was, that the leading men, seeing a 
newspaper now in the hands of one who could also 

1 Under instructions from the king, Bm^net insisted uj)on the pay- 
ment by the Massachusetts General Court of a fixed salary. The 
General Court refused to pay a salary, but were ready to make a 
present, larger than the salary demanded. This was one of the dis- 
putes which divided the people and the king and led finally to the 
War for Independence. The people looked upon the salary as a tax 
forced upon them. 



86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige, and en- 
courage me. Bradford still printed the votes, and 
laws, and other public business. He had printed an 
address of the House to the governor in a coarse, 
blundering manner; we reprinted it elegantly and cor- 
rectly, and sent one to every member. They were sen^ 
sible of the difference : it strengthened the hands of 
our friends in the House, and they voted us their prints 
ers for the year ensuing. 

Among my friends in the House I must not forget 
Mr. Hamilton, before mentioned, who was then re- 
turned from England, and had a seat in it. He inter- 
ested himself for me strongly in that instance, as he 
did in many others afterward, continuing his patron- 
age till his death. 

Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in mind of the 
debt I owed him, but did not press me. I wrote him 
an ingenuous letter of acknowledgment, craved his 
forbearance a little longer, which he allowed me, and 
as soon as I was able, I paid the principal with inter- 
est, and many thanks ; so that erratum was in some 
degree corrected. 

But now another difficulty came upon me which I 
had never the least reason to expect. Mr. Meredith's 
father, who was to have paid for our printing-house, 
according to the expectations given me, was able to 
advance only one hundred pounds currency, which had 
been paid ; and a hundred more was due to the mer- 
chant, who grew impatient, and sued us all. We 
gave bail, but saw that, if the money could not be 
raised in time, the suit must soon come to a judgment 
and execution, and our hopeful prospects must, witli 
us, be ruined, as the press and letters must be sold foj 
payment, perhaps at half price. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 87 

In this distress two true friends, whose kindness I 
have never forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can 
remember anything, came to me separately, unknown 
to each other, and, without any application from me, 
offering each of them to advance me all the money 
that should be necessary to enable me to take the 
whole business upon myself, if that should be practi- 
cable ; but they did not like my continuing the part- 
nership with Meredith, who, as they said, was often 
seen drunk in the streets, and playing at low games 
in ale-houses, much to our discredit. These two 
friends were William Coleman and Robert Grace. I 
told them I could not propose a separation while any 
prospect remained of the Merediths' fulfilling their 
part of our agreement, because I thought myself under 
great obligations to them for what they had done, and 
would do if they could ; but, if tliey finally failed in 
their performance, and our partnership must be dis- 
solved, I should then think myself at liberty to accept 
the assistance of my friends. 

Thus the matter rested for some time, w^hen I said 
to my partner, " Perhaps your father is dissatisfied at 
the part you have undertaken in this affair of ours, 
and is unwilling to advance for you and me what he 
would for you alone. If that is the case, tell me, and 
I will resign the whole to you, and go about my busi- 
ness." " No," said he, " my father has really been 
disappointed, and is really unable ; and I am unwill- 
ing to distress him further. I see this is a business I 
am not fit for. I was bred a farmer, and it was a 
folly in me to come to town, and put myself, at thirty 
years of age, an apprentice to learn a new trade. 
Many of our Welsh people are going to settle in North 
Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclined to go 



88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

with them, and follow my old employment. You may 
find friends to assist you. If you will take the debts of 
the company upon you, return to my father the hun- 
dred pounds he has advanced, pay my little personal 
debts, and give me thirty pounds and a new saddle, I 
will relinquish the partnership, and leave the whole in 
your hands." I agreed to this proposal; it was drawn 
up in writing, signed, and sealed immediately. I 
gave him what he demanded, and he went soon after 
to Carolina, from whence he sent me next year two 
long letters, containing the best account that had been 
given of that countr}^, the climate, the soil, husbandry, 
etc., for in those matters he was very judicious. I 
printed them in the papers, and they gave great satis- 
faction to the public. 

As soon as h^ was gone, I recurred to my two 
friends ; and because I would not give an unkind 
preference to either, I took half of what each had of- 
fered and I wanted of one, and half of the other ; paid 
off the company's debts, and went on with the busi- 
ness in my own name, advertising that the partnership 
was dissolved. I think this was in or about the year 
1729. 

About this time there was a cry among the people 
for more paper money, only fifteen thousand pounds 
being extant in the province, and that soon to be 
sunk. The wealthy inhabitants opposed any addition, 
being against all paper currency, from an apprehen- 
sion that it would depreciate, as it had done in New 
England, to the prejudice of all creditors. We had 
discussed this point in our Junto, where I was on the 
side of an addition, being persuaded that the first 
small sum struck in 1723 had done much good by in. 
creasing the trade, employment, and number of inhabi 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 89 

itants in the province, since I now saw all the old 
houses inhabited, and many new ones building ; 
whereas I remembered well that when I first walked 
about the streets of Philadelphia, eating my roll, I 
saw most of the houses in Walnut Street, between 
Second and Front streets, with bills on tlieir doors, 
" To be let ; " and many likewise in Chestnut Streei 
and other streets, which made ^me then think the in- 
habitants of the city were deserting it one after 
another. 

Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject 
that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on 
it, entitled The Nature and Necessity of a Paper 
Currency, It was well received by the common 
people in general ; but the rich men disliked it, for it 
increased and strengthened the clamor for more 
money, and they happening to have no writers among 
them that were able to answer it, their opposition 
slackened, and the point was carried by a majority in 
the House. My friends there, who conceived I had 
been of some service, thought fit to reward me by em- 
ploying me in printing the money ; a very profitable 
job and a great help to me. This was another advan- 
tage gained by my being able to write. 

The utility of this currency became by time and ex- 
perience so evident as never afterwards to be much 
disputed ; so that it grew soon to fifty-five thousand 
pounds, and in 1739 to eighty thousand pounds, since 
which it arose during war to upwards of three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand pounds, trade, building, and 
inhabitants all the while increasing, though I now 
think there are limits beyond which the quantity may 
be hurtful. 

I soon after obtained, through my friend Hamilton, 



90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

the printing of the Newcastle paper money, another 
profitable job as I then thought it ; small things ap- 
pearing great to those in small circumstances ; and 
these, to me, were really great advantages, as they 
were great encouragements. He procured for mcj 
also, the printing of the laws and votes of that gov- 
ernment, which continued in my hands as long as I 
followed the business. 

I now opened a little stationer's shop. I had in it 
blanks of all sorts, the correctest that ever appeared 
among us, being assisted in that by my friend Breint- 
nal. I had also paper, parchment, chapmen's books, 
etc. One Whitemash, a compositor I had known in 
London, an excellent workman, now came to me, and 
worked with me constantly and diligently; and I took 
an apprentice, the son of Aquila Rose. 

I began now gradually to pay off the debt I was 
under for the printing-house. In order to secure my 
credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not 
only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to 
avoid all appearances to the contrary. I dressed 
plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion. I 
never wxnt out a fishing or shooting ; a book, indeed, 
sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was 
seldom, snug, and gave no scandal ; and, to show that 
I was not above my business, I sometimes brought 
home the paper I purchased at the stores through the 
streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteemed an 
industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for 
what I bought, the merchants who imported station- 
ery solicited my custom ; others proposed supplying 
me with books, and I went on swimmingly. In the 
mean time, Keimer's credit and business declining 
daily, he was at last forced to sell his printing-house 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 91 

to satisfy his creditors. He went to Barbadoes, and 
there lived some years in very poor circumstances. 

His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had instructed 
while I worked with him, set up in his place at Phila- 
delphia, having bought his materials. I was at first 
apprehensive of a powerful rival in Harry, as his 
friends were very able, and had a good deal of inter- 
est. I therefore proposed a partnership to him, which 
he, fortunately for me, rejected with scorn. He was 
very proud, dressed like a gentleman, lived expen- 
sively, took much diversion and pleasure abroad, ran 
in debt, and neglected his business ; uj^on which, all 
business left him ; and finding nothing to do, he fol- 
lowed Keimer to Barbadoes, taking the printing-house 
with him. There this apprentice employed his former 
master as a journeyman ; they quarreled often ; Harry 
went continually behindhand, and at length was forced 
to sell his types and return to his country work in 
Pennsylvania. The person that bought them em- 
ployed Keimer to use them, but in a few years he 
died. 

There remained now no competitor with me at Phil- 
adelphia but the old one, Bradford ; who was rich and 
easy, did a little printing now and then by straggling 
hands, but was not very anxious about the business. 
However, as he kept the post-office, it was imagined 
he had better opportunities of obtaining news ; his 
paper was thought a better distributer of advertise- 
ments than mine, and therefore had many more, which 
was a profitable thing to him, and a disadvantage to 
me ; for, though I did indeed receive and send papers 
by the post, yet the public opinion was otherwise, for 
what I did send was by bribing the riders, who took 
them privately, Bradford being unkind enough to for- 



92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

bid it, wliich occasioned some resentment on my part ; 
and I tliought so meanly of him for it that, when 1 
afterward came into his situation, I took care never to 
imitate it. 

I had hitherto continued to board with Godfrey, 
who lived in part of my house with his wife and chil» 
dren3 and had one side of the shop for his glazier's 
business, though he worked little, being always ab- 
sorbed in his mathematics. Mrs. Godfrey projected a 
match for me with a relation's daughter, took oppor- 
tunities of bringing us often together, till a serious 
courtship on my part ensued, the girl being in herself 
very deserving. The old folks encouraged me by con- 
tinual invitations to supper, and by leaving us to- 
gether, till at length it was time to explain. Mrs. 
Godfrey managed our little treaty. I let her know 
that I expected as much money with their daughter as 
would pay off my remaining debt for the printing- 
house, which I believe was not then above a hundred 
pounds. She brought me word they had no such sum 
to spare ; I said they might mortgage their house in 
the loan-office. The answer to this, after some days, 
was, that they did not approve the match : that, on 
inquiry of Bradford, they had been informed the print- 
ing business was not a profitable one ; the types would 
soon be worn out, and more wanted ; that S. Keimer 
and D. Harry had failed one after the other, and I 
should probably soon follow them ; and, therefore, I 
was forbidden the house, and the daughter shut up. 

Whether this was a real change of sentiment or 
only artifice, on a supposition of our being too far en- 
gaged in affection to retract, and therefore that we 
should steal a marriage, which would leave them at 
liberty to give or withhold what they pleased, I know 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 93 

not ; but I suspected the latter, resented it, and went 
no more. Mrs, Godfrey brought me afterward some 
more favorable accounts of their disposition, and 
would have drawn me on again ; but I declared abso- 
lutely my resolution to have nothing more to do with 
that family. This was resented by the Godfreys; we 
differed, and they removed, leaving me the whole 
house, and I resolved to take no more inmates. 

But this affair having turned my thoughts to mar- 
riage, I looked round me and made overtures of ac- 
quaintance in other places ; but soon found that, the 
business of a printer being generally thought a poor 
one, I was not to expect money with a wife, unless 
with such a one as I should not otherwise think agree- 
able. ... A friendly correspondence as neighbors 
and old acquaintances had continued between me and 
Mrs. Read's family, who all had a regard for me from 
the time of my first lodging in their house. I was 
often invited there and consulted in their affairs, 
wherein I sometimes was of service. I pitied poor 
Miss Read's unfortunate situation, who was generally 
dejected, seldom cheerful, and avoided company. I 
considered my giddiness and inconstancy when in 
London as in a great degree the cause of her unhappi- 
ness, though the mother was good enough to think the 
fault more her own than mine, as she had prevented 
our marrying before I went thither, and persuaded the 
other match in my absence. Our mutual affection was 
revived, but there were now great objections to our 
union. The match ^ was indeed looked upon as invalid, 
a preceding wife being said to be living in England ; 
but this could not easily be proved, because of the dis- 

1 That is, the match between Miss Read and Rogers, See page 70, 
ante. 



94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

tance ; and though there was a report of his death, it 
was not certain. Then, though it should be true, he 
had left many debts, which his successor might be 
called upon to pay. We ventured, however, over all 
these difficulties, and I took her to wife, September 1, 
1730. None of the inconveniences happened that we 
had apprehended ; she proved a good and faithfujl 
helpmate, assisted me much by attending the shop^ 
we throve together, and have ever mutually endeav= 
ored to make each other happy. Thus I corrected 
that great erratum as well as I could.^ 

About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, 
but in a little room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that 
purpose, a proposition was made by me that, since 
our books were often referred to in our disquisitions 
upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to have 
them all together where we met, that upon occasion 
they might be consulted ; and by thus clubbing our 
books to a common library, we should, while we liked 
to keep them together, have each of us the advantage 
of using the books of all the other members, which 
would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the 
whole. It was liked and agreed to, and we filled one 
end of the room with such books as we could best 
spare. The number was not so great as we expected ; 
and though they had been of great use, yet some in- 
conveniences occurring for want of due care of them, 
the collection, after about a year, was separated, and 
each took his books home again. 

And now I set on foot my first project of a public 
nature, that for a subscription library. I drew up the 
proposals, got them put into form by our great scriv- 
ener, Brockden, and by the help of my friends in the 

1 Mrs. Franklin died December 19, 1774. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 95 

Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings 
each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty 
years, the term our company was to continue. We 
afterwards obtained a charter, the company being in- 
creased to one hundred ; this was the mother of all the 
North American subscription libraries, now so numer- 
ous. It is become a great thing itself, and continu- 
ally increasing. These libraries have improved the 
general conversation of the Americans, made the com- 
mon tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most 
gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have 
contributed in some degree to the stand so generally 
made throughout the colonies in defence of their priv- 
ileges.^ 

At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania, 
there was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the 
colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York 
and Philadelphia the printers were indeed stationers ; 
they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a 
few common school books. Those who loved reading 
wei'e obliged to send for their books from England ; 
the members of the Junto had each a few. We had 
left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired a room 
to hold our club in. I proposed that we should all of 
us bring our books to that room, where they would 
not only be ready to consult in our conferences, but 
become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty 
to borrow such as he wished to read at home. This 
was accordingly done, and for some time contented us, 

1 Thus far Franklin wrote in 1T71 when in England. He took up 
the pen again in France, thirteen years later, and wrote what follows, 
but not having a copy of what he had already written he repeated 
himself a little in the opening paragraphs. 



96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Finding the advantage of this little collection, 1 
proposed to render the benefit from books more com- 
mon, by commencing a public subscription library. I 
drew a sketch of the j^lan and rules that would be 
necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles 
Brockden, to put the whole in form of articles of 
agreement to be subscribed, by which each subscriber 
engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first pur- 
chase of books, and an annual contribution for in- 
creasing them. So few were the readers at that time 
in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I 
was not able, with great industry, to find more than 
fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay 
down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten 
shillings per annum. ^ On this little fund we began. 
The books w^ere imported ; the library was opened one 
day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their 
promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly 
returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, 
was imitated by other towns, and in other provinces. 
The libraries were augmented by donations ; reading 
became fashionable ; and our people, having no pub- 
lic amusements to divert their attention from study, 
became better acquainted with books, and in a few 
years were observed by strangers to be better in- 
structed and more intelligent than people of the same 
rank generally are in other countries. 

When we were about to sign the above-mentioned 
articles, which were to be binding on us, our heirs, 
etc., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden, the scrivener, said 
to us, " You are young men, but it is scarcely j^roba- 

^ The notion of an entirely free public library, sustained by the 
town, was not then held. The present system of town and city libra 
ries dates from about 1850. 



J 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 97 

hie that any of jow will live to see the expiration of 
the term fixed in the instrument." A number of us, 
however, are yet living ; but the instrument was after 
a few years rendered null by a charter that incorpo- 
rated and gave perpetuity to the company.^ 

The objections and reluctances I met with in solic- 
iting the subscriptions made me soon feel the impro- 
priety of presenting one's self as the proposer of any 
useful project, that might be supposed to raise one's 
reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's 
neighbors, when one has need of their assistance to 
accomplish that project. I therefore put myself as 
much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme 
of a numher of friends^ who had requested me to go 

^ The books were at first kept in the chamber of one of Franklin's 
friends ; the librarian was in attendance an hour on Wednesday and 
two hours on Saturday. After eight years, that is, in 1740, a room 
was obtained in the State House, and the next year Franklin printed 
a catalogue of the library ; in 1773 another removal was made to 
Carpenters' Hall, and in 1790 the Philadelphia Library was housed in 
the building which it still occupies. A tablet was inserted in the 
building bearing this inscription : — 

Be it remembered 

in honor of the Philadelphia youth 

(then chiefly artificers) 

that in MDCCXXXI 

they cheerfully, 

at the instance of Benjamin Franklin, 

one of their number, 

instituted the Philadelphia Library 

which, though small at first, 

is become highly valuable and extensively useful, 

and which the walls of this edifice 

are now destined to contain and preserve : 

the first stone of whose foundation 

was here placed 

the thirty-first day of August, 1789. 

The inscription was prepared by Franklin, with the exception of 

the reference to himself, which was inserted by the committee. 



98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

about and propose it to sucli as they thought lovers of 
reading. In this way my affair went on more 
smoothly, and I ever after practised it on such occa- 
sions ; and from my frequent successes can heartily rec- 
ommend it. The present little sacrifice of your vanity 
will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains a 
while uncertain to whom the merit belongs, some one 
more vain than yourself will be encouraged to claim 
it, and then even envy will be disposed to do you jus- 
tice by plucking those assumed feathers, and restoring 
them to their right owner. 

This library afforded me the means of improvement 
by constant sti^dy, for which I set apart an hour or 
two each day, and thus repaired in some degree the 
loss of the learned education my father once intended 
for me. Reading was the only amusement I allowed 
myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolics 
of any kind ; and my industry in my business contin- 
ued as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was in- 
debted for my printing-house ; I had a young family 
coming on to be educated, and I had to contend with 
for business two printers, who were established in the 
place before me. My circumstances, however, grew 
daily easier. My original habits of frugality continu- 
ing, and my father having, among his instructions to 
me when a boy, frequently rej)eated a proverb of Sol' 
omon, " Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he 
shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before 
mean men," I from thence considered industry as a 
means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which en- 
couraged me, though I did not think that I should 
ever literally stand before, Mngs^ which, however, has 
since happened; for I have stood before j^^e, and even 
had the honor of sitting down with one, the King of 
Denmark, to dinner. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 99 

We have an English proverb that says, "ZTe that 
would thrive^ must ash Ms wife^ It was lucky for 
me that I had one as much disposed to industry and 
frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully in 
my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending 
shop, purchasing old linen rags for the paper makers, 
etc., etc. We kept no idle servants, our table was 
plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For 
instance, my breakfast was a long time bread and 
milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen 
porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark how lux- 
ury will enter families, and make a progress, in spite 
of principle : being called one morning to breakfast, 
I found it in a China bowl, with a spoon of silver ! 
They had been bought for me without my knowledge 
by my wife, and had cost her the enormous sum of 
three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had no other 
excuse or apology to make, but that she thought her 
husband deserved a silver spoon and China bowl as 
well as any of his neighbors. This was the first ap- 
pearance of plate and China in our house, which after- 
ward, in a course of years, as our wealth increased, 
augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in 
value. 

I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian ; 
and though some of the dogmas of that persuasion, 
such as the eternal decrees of God^ election^ reproha- 
tion, etc.., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubt- 
ful, and I early absented myself from the public as- 
semblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I 
never was without some religious principles. I never 
doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity ; that 
He made the world, and governed it by his Provi- 
dence ; that the most acceptable service of God was 



100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

the doing good to man ; that our souls are immortal ; 
and that all crime will be punished, and virtue re- 
warded, either here or hereafter. These I esteemed 
the essentials of every religion ; and being to be found 
in all the religions we had in our country, I respected 
them all, though with different degrees of resjDect, as 
I found them more or less mixed with other articles, 
which, without any tendency to inspire, promote, or 
confirm morality, served principally to divide us, and 
make us unfriendly to one another. This respect to 
all, with an opinion that the worst had some good ef- 
fects, induced me to avoid all discourse that might 
tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of 
his own religion ; and as our province increased in 
people, and new places of worship were continually 
wanted, and generally erected by voluntary contribu- 
tion, my mite for such purpose, whatever might be 
the sect, was never refused. 

Though I seldom attended any public worship, I 
had still an opinion of its propriety, and of its utility 
when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my an- 
nual subscription for the support of the only Presby- 
terian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. 
He used to visit me sometimes as a friend, and ad- 
monish me to attend his administrations, and I was 
now and then prevailed on to do so, once for five Sun- 
days successively. Had he been in my opinion a good 
preacher, perhaps I might have continued, notwith- 
standing the occasion I had for the Sunday's leisure 
in my course of study ; but his discourses were chiefly 
either polemic arguments, or explications of the pe^ 
culiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to me very 
dry, luiinteresting, and unedifying, since not a single 
moral principle was inculcated or enforced, their ainj 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 101 

seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than 
good citizens. 

At length he took for his text that verse of the 
fourth chapter of Philippians, " Finally^ hretlwen, 
whatsoever things are true., honesty just., jrtiire., lovely^ 
or of good rejiort.^ if there he any virtue^ or any 
praise^ think on these things.''^ And I imagined, in a 
sermon on such a text, we could not miss of having 
some morality. But he confined himself to five points 
only, as meant by the apostle, viz. : 1. Keeping holy 
the Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading the 
holy Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the public wor- 
ship. 4. Partaking of the Sacrament. 5. Paying a 
due respect to God's ministers. These might be all 
good things ; but as they were not the kind of good 
things that I expected from that text, I despaired of 
ever meeting with them from any other, was disgusted, 
and attended his preaching no more. I had some 
years before composed a little Liturgy, or form of 
prayer, for my own private use (viz., in 1728), enti- 
tled. Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion. I re- 
turned to the use of this, and went no more to the 
public assemblies. My conduct might be blamable, 
but I leave it, without attempting further to excuse it ; 
my present purpose being to relate facts, and not to 
make apologies for them. 

It was about this time I conceived the bold and 
arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I 
wished to live without committing any fault at any 
time ; I would conquer all that either natural inclina- 
tion, custom, or company might lead me into. As I 
knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, 
I did not see why I might not always do the one and 
avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken 



102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While 
my care was employed in guarding against one fault, 
I was often surprised by another ; habit took the ad- 
vantage of inattention ; inclination was sometimes too 
strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the 
mere sjjeculative conviction that it was our interest to 
be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent 
our slipping ; and that the contrary habits must be 
broken, and good ones acquired and established, be- 
fore we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform 
rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore 
contrived the following method. 

In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I 
had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue 
more or less numerous, as different writers included 
more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temper- 
ance, for example, was by some confined to eating and 
drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the 
moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, 
or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice and 
ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake of clear- 
ness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas an- 
nexed to each, than a few names with more ideas ; and 
I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at 
that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and 
annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed 
the extent I gave to its meaning. 

These names of virtues, with their precepts were : — 

1. Temperance. 
Eat not to dullness ; drink not to elevation. 

2. Silence. 
Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself^, 
avoid triflino^ conversation. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 103 

3. Order. 

Let all your things have their places ; let each part 
of your business have its time. 

4. Eesolution. 

Resolve to perform what you ought ; perform with* 
out fail what you resolve. 

5. Frugality. 

Make no expense but to do good to others or your- 
self ; i. e., waste nothing. 

6. Industry. 

Lose no time ; be always employed in something 
useful ; cut off all unnecessary actions. 

7. Sincerity. 

Use no hurtful deceit ; think innocently and justly ; 
and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 

8. Justice. 

Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the ben- 
efits that are your duty. 

9. Moderation. 

Avoid extremes ; forbear resenting injuries so much 
as you think they deserve. 

10. Cleanliness. 

Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habi- 
tation. 

11. Tranquillity. 

Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common 
or unavoidable. 



104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

12. Chastity. 

13. Humility. 



My intention being to acquire the habitude of all 
these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract 
my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to 
fix it on one of them at a time ; and, when I should be 
master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, 
till I should have gone through the thirteen ; and as 
the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the 
acquisition of certain others, I arranged them with 
that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as 
it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, 
which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to 
be kept up, and guard maintained against the unre- 
mitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of 
perpetual temptations. This being acquired and es- 
tablished. Silence would be more easy ; and my desire 
being to gain knowledge at the same time that I im- 
proved in virtue, and considering that in conversation 
it was obtained rather by the use of the ears than of 
the tongue,* and therefore wishing to break a habit I 
was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, 
which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I 
gave Silence the second place. This and the next, 
Order^ I expected would allow me more time for at- 
tending to my project and my studies. Resolution^ 
once become habitual, would keep me firm in my en- 
deavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues ; Frugal- 
ity and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, 
and producing affluence and independence, would 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



105 



make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, 
etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the ad^ 
vice of Pythagoras in his Golden Yerses, daily examt 
nation would be necessary, I contrived the following 
method for conducting that examination. 

I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for 
each of the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, 
so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the 
week, marking each column with a letter for the day. 
I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, mark- 
ins: the beofinnins^ of each line with the first letter of 
one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper 
column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every 
fault I found upon examination to have been com- 
mitted respecting that virtue upon that day. 



Form of the pages. 



i TEMPERANCE. 


\ 

EAT NOT TO DULNESS ; 
DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION. 




S. 


M. 


T. 


W. 


T. 


F. 


S. 


T. 








S. 


* 


* 




* 




* 




0. 
R. 


* * 


* 


* 




* 


* 


* 






* 




* 


* 




F. 




* 










I. 






* 










S. 
















J. 












. . 




M. 
C. 





























T. 














C. 
















! H. i 













106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

I determined to give a week's strict attention to 
each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the first 
week, my great guard was to avoid every the least of- 
fense against Temperance^ leaving the other virtues 
to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening 
the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I 
could keej) my first line, marked T, clear of spots, I 
supposed the habit of that virtue so much strength- 
ened, and its 02)posite weakened, that I might venture 
extending my attention to include the next, and for 
the following week keep both lines clear of spots. 
Proceeding thus to the last, I could go through a 
course complete in thirteen weeks, and four courses in 
a year. And like him who, having a garden to weed, 
does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at 
once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, 
but works on one of the beds at a time, and, having 
accomplished the first, proceeds to a second, so I 
should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of see- 
ing on my pages the progress I made in virtue, by 
clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in 
the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in 
viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily ex- 
amination. 

This my little book had for its motto these lines 
from Addison's Cato : — 

" Here will I hold. If there 's a power above us 
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud 
Through all her works), He must delight in virtue ; 
And that which he delights in must be happy." 

Another from Cicero, 

' ' vitse Philosophia dux ! O virtutum indagatrix expultrixque 
vitiorum ! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis tuis actus, peccanti im^ 
mortalitati est anteponendus. " 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 107 

[O Philosophy, guide of life ! investigator and expeller of 
crimes ! A single day, lived well and in accordance -with your pre° 
cepts, is to be preferred to sinning immortality.] 

Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking 
of wisdom or virtue : — 

* ' Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches 
and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
peace." iii. 16, 17. 

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, 
I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assist- 
ance for obtaining it ; to this end I formed the follow- 
ing little prayer, which was prefixed to my tables of 
examination, for daily use. 

" O powerful Goodness ! bountiful Father ! merciful Guide ! Increase 
in me that ivisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my 
resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices 
to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual fa- 
vors to me.''"' 

I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took 
from Thomson's Poems, viz. : — 

*' Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme ! 
O teach me what is good ; teach me Thyself ! 
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, 
From every low pursuit ; and fill my soul 
With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure ; 
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss ! ' ' 

The precept of Order requiring that every part oj 

my hiisiness should have its allotted time, one page in 

my little book contained the following scheme of eni= 

ployment for the twenty-four hours of a natural day. 

The Morning. - f 5 1 Rise, wash, and address Pow- 



Question. What good shall I | | erful Goodness ! Contrive day's 

do this day ? \ ^ \ business, and take the resolu- 

I j tion of the day ; prosecute the 

1 1 J present stvidy, and breakfast. 



9 
10 
11 



Work. 



108 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



Noon. 



Evening. 
Question. Wliat good have I 
lone to-day ? 



Night. 



2 
3 
4 
5 
f 6 
I 7 
8 
9 

10 
11 
12 
1 
2 
3 
4 



Read, or overlook my ao 
counts, and dine. 



MVork. 

Put things in their places. 
Supper. Music or diversion, 
or conversation. Examination 
of the day. 



Sleep. 



I entered upon the execution of this plan for self- 
examination, and continued it with occasional inter- 
missions for some time. I was surprised to find my- 
self so much fuller of faults than I had imagined ; but 
I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To 
avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my little 
book, which, by scraping out the marks on the paper 
of old faults to make room for new ones in a new 
course, became full of holes, I transferred my tables 
and precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum 
book, on which the lines were drawn with red ink, 
that made a durable stain, and on those lines I marked 
my faults with a black lead pencil, which marks I 
could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a 
while I went through one course only in a year, and 
afterward only one in several years, till at length I 
omitted them entirely, being employed in voyages and 
business abroad, with a multiplicity of affairs that 
interfered ; but I always carried my little book with 
me. 

My scheme of Oeder gave me the most trouble; 
and I found that, though it might be practicable 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 109 

where a man's business was such as to leave him the 
disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, 
for instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed 
by a master, who must mix with the world, and often 
receive people of business at their own hours. Order^ 
too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc., I 
found extremely difficult to acquire. I had not been 
early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good 
memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience at- 
tending want of method. This article, therefore, cost 
me so much painful attention, and my faults in it 
vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in 
amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I 
was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content 
myself with a faulty character in that respect, like the 
man who, in buying an axe of a smith, my neighbor, 
desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as 
the edge. The smith consented to grind it bright for 
him if he would turn the wheel ; he turned, while the 
smith pressed the broad face of the axe hard and heav- 
ily on the stone, which made the turning of it very 
fatiguing. The man came every now and then from 
the wheel to see how the work went on, and at length 
would take his axe as it was, without farther grinding. 
" No," said the smith, " turn on, turn on ; we shall 
have it bright by and by ; as yet, it is only speckled." 
"Yes," says the man, '' hut I think I like a speckled 
axe hest.''^ And I believe this may have been the case 
with many, who, having, for want of some such means 
as I employed, found the difficulty of obtaining good 
and breaking bad habits in other points of vice and 
virtue, have given up the struggle, and concluded that 
" a sjjeckled axe was best ; " for something, that pre- 
tended to be reason, was every now and then suggest- 



no AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing to me that such extreme nicety as I exacte J of 
myself might be a kind of foppery in morals, which, if 
it were known, would make me ridiculous ; that a per- 
fect character might be attended with the inconven- 
ience of being envied and hated ; and that a benevo= 
lent man should allow a few faults in himself, to kee|: 
his friends in countenance. 

In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect 
to Order ; and now I am grown old, and my memory 
bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the 
whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had 
been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, 
yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier 
man than I otherwise should have been if I had not 
attempted it ; as those wdio aim at perfect writing by 
imitating the engraved copies, though they never reach 
the wished-for excellence of those copies, their hand is 
mended by the endeavor, and is tolerable while it con- 
tinues fair and legible. 

It may be well my posterity should be informed 
that to this little artifice, with the blessing of God, 
their ancestor owed the constant felicity of his life, 
down to his 79th year, in which this is written. 
What reverses may attend the remainder is in the 
hand of Providence ; but, if they arrive, the reflection 
on past happiness enjoyed ought to help his bearing 
them with more resignation. To Temperance he 
ascribes his long-continued health, and what is still 
left to him of a good constitution ; to Industry and 
Frugality, the early easiness of his circumstances and 
acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge 
that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained 
for him some degree of reputation among the learned , 
to Sincerity and Justice, the confidence of his countryt 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 111 

and the honorable employs it conferred upon him; 
and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the 
virtues, even in the imperfect state he was able to 
acquire them, all that evenness of temper, and that 
cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his com- 
pany still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger 
acquaintance. I hope, therefore, that some of my de- 
scendants may follow the example and reap the ben- 
efit. 

It will be remarked that, though my scheme was 
not wholly without religion, there was in it no mark 
of any of the distinguishing tenets of any particular 
sect. I had purposely avoided them ; for, being fully 
persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method, 
and that it might be serviceable to people in all re- 
ligions, and intending some time or other to publish 
it, I would not have anything in it that should preju- 
dice any one, of any sect, against it. I purposed writ- 
ing a little comment on each virtue, in which I would 
have shown the advantages of possessing it, and the 
mischiefs attending its opposite vice ; and I should 
have called my book The Art of Virtue, because 
it would have shown the means and manner of obtain- 
ing virtue, which would have distinguished it from 
the mere exhortation to be good, that does not instruct 
and indicate the means, but is like the apostle's man 
of verbal charity, who only without showing to the 
naked and hungry how or where they might get 
clothes or victuals exhorted them to be fed and 
clothed. — James ii. 15, 16. 

But it so happened that my intention of writing and 
publishing this comment was never fulfilled. I did, 
indeed, from time to time, put down short hints of the 
sentiments, reasonmgs, etc., to be made use of in it, 



( 

112 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

some of which I have still by me ; but the necessary 
close attention to private business in the earlier part 
of my life, and public business since, have occasioned 
my postponing it ; for, it being connected in my mind 
with a great and extensive p^^oject^ that required the 
whole man to execute, and which an unforeseen suc- 
cession of employs prevented my attending to, it has 
hitherto remained unfinished. 

In this piece it was my design to explain and en- 
force this doctrine, that vicious actions are not hurt- 
ful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because 
they are hurtful, the nature of man alone considered ; 
that it was, therefore, every one's interest to be virtu- 
ous who wished to be happy even in this world ; and 
I should, from this circumstance (there being always 
in the world a number of rich merchants, nobility, 
states, and princes, who have need of honest instru- 
ments for the management of their affairs, and such 
being so rare), have endeavored to convince young 
persons that no qualities were so likely to make a 
poor man's fortune as those of probity and integrity. 

My list of virtues contained at first but twelve ; but 
a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I 
was generally thought proud ; that my pride showed 
itself frequently in conversation ; that I was not con- 
tent with being in the right w^hen discussing any 
point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of 
which he convinced me by mentioning several in- 
stances ; I determined endeavoring to cure myself, if 
I could, of this vice or folly among the' rest, and I 
added Humility to my list, giving an extensive mean- 
ing to the word. 

I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the 
reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with re. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. IIB 

gard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to for^ 
bear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of 
others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even 
forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, 
the use of every word or expression in the language 
that imported a fixed opinion, such as certainly., un- 
douhtedly^ etc., and I adopted, instead of them, I con° 
ceive, I apprehend^ or I imagine a thing to be so or 
so ; or it so appears to me at present. When another 
asserted something that I thought an error, I denied 
myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and 
of showing immediately some absurdity in his prop- 
osition ; and in answering I began by observing that 
in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would 
be right, but in the present case there appeared or 
seemed to me some difference, etc, I soon found the 
advantage of this change in my manner ; the conver- 
sations I engaged in went on more pleasantly. The 
modest way in which I proposed my opinions procured 
them a readier reception and less contradiction ; I had 
less mortification when I was found to be in the 
wrong, and I more easily prevailed with others to 
give up their mistakes and join with me when I hap- 
pened to be in the right. 

And this mode, which I at first put on with some 
violence to natural inclination, became at length so 
easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these 
fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical 
expression escape me. And to this habit (after my 
character of integrity) I think it principally owing 
that I had early so much weight with my fellow-citi- 
zens when I proposed new institutions, or alterations 
in the old, and so much influence in public councils 
when I became a member; for I was but a bad 



114 A UTOBIOGRAPHY. 

speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in 
my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and 
yet I generally carried my points. 

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural 
passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, 
struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as 
much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every 
now and then peep out and show itself ; you will see 
it, perhaps, often in this history ; for, even if I could 
conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should 
probably be proud of my humility. 



VI. 

SELF-EDUCATION. 

Having mentioned a great and extensive 2^'i"oject 
which I had conceived, it seems proper that some 
account should be here given of that project and its 
object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the fol- 
lowing little paper, accidentally preserved, viz. : — 

Observations on my reading history, in Library, 
May 19, 1731. 

" That the great affairs of the world, the wars, rev- 
olutions, etc., are carried on and affected by parties. 

" That the view of these parties is their present gen- 
eral interest, or what they take to be such. 

" That the different views of these different parties 
occasion all confusion. 

" That while a party is carrying on a general de- 
sign, each man has his particular private interest in 
view. 

" That as soon as a party has gained its general 
point, each member becomes intent upon his j)articular 
interest ; which, thwarting others, breaks that party 
into divisions, and occasions more confusion. 

" That few in public affairs act from a mere view of 
the good of their country, whatever they may pretend ; 
and, though their actings bring real good to their 
country, yet men primarily considered that their own 
and their country's interest w^s united, and did not 
act from a principle of benevolence. 



116 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

" That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view 
to the good of mankind. 

" There seems to me at present to be great occasion 
for raising a United Party for Virtue, by forming the 
virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular 
body, to be governed by suitable, good, and wise rules, 
which good and wise men may probably be more unan- 
imous in their obedience to, than common people are 
to common laws. 

"I at present think that whoever attempts this 
aright, and is well qualified, cannot fail of pleasing- 
God, and of meeting with success. B. F." 

Revolving this project in my mind, as to be under- 
taken hereafter, when my circumstances should afford 
me the necessary leisure, I put down from time to 
time, on pieces of paper, such thoughts as occurred to 
me respecting it. Most of these are lost ; but I find 
one purporting to be the substance of an intended 
creed, containing, as I thought, the essentials of every 
known religion, and being free of everything that 
might shock the professors of any religion. It is ex- 
pressed in these words, viz. : — 

" That there is one God, who made all things. 

" That He governs the world by his providence. 

"That He ought to be worshipped by adoration, 
prayer, and thanksgiving. 

" But that the most acceptable service of God is do- 
ing good to man. 

" That the soul is immortal. 

"And that God will certainly reward virtue and 
punish vice, either here or hereafter." 

My ideas at that time were that the sect should be 
begun and spread at first among young and single 
men only ; that each person to be initiated should noi? 



! 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 117 

only declare his assent to sucli creed, but should have 
exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examina- 
tion and practice of the virtues, as in the before-men- 
tioned model; that the existence of such a society 
should be kept a secret, till it was become consider- 
able, to prevent solicitations for the admission of im= 
proper persons, but that the members should each of 
them search among his acquaintance for ingenuous, 
well-disposed youths, to whom, with prudent caution, 
the scheme should be gradually communicated ; that 
the members should engage to afford their advice, as- 
sistance, and support to each other in promoting one 
another's interests, business, and advancement in life; 
that, for distinction, we should be called The Society 
of the Free and Easy : free, as being, by the general 
practice and habit of the virtues, free from the do- 
minion of vice ; and particularly by the practice of 
industry and frugality, free from debt, which exposes 
a man to confinement, and a species of slavery to his 
creditors. 

This is as much as I can now recollect of the proj- 
ect, except that I communicated it in part to two 
young men, who adopted it with some enthusiasm; but 
my then narrow circumstances, and the necessity I was 
under of sticking close to my business, occasioned my 
postponing the further prosecution of it at that time ; 
and my multifarious occupations, public and private, 
induced me to continue postponing, so that it has been 
omitted till I have no longer strength or activity left 
sufficient for such an enterprise ; though I am still of 
opinion that it was a practicable scheme, and might 
have been very useful, by forming a great number of 
good citizens ; and I was not discouraged by the seem- 
ing magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always 



118 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

tliought that one man of tolerable abilities may work 
great changes, and accomplish great affairs among 
mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, cutting 
off all amusements or other employments that would 
divert his attention, makes the execution of that same 
plan his sole study and business. 

In 1732 I first published my Almanack, under the 
name of Richard Saunders ; it was continued by 
me about twenty-five years, commonly called Poor 
Richard's Almanac. I endeavored to make it both 
entertaining and useful ; and it accordingly came to 
be in such demand, that I reaped considerable profit 
from it, vending annually near ten thousand. And 
observing that it was generally read, scarce any neigh- 
borhood in the province being without it, I considered 
it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among 
the common people, who bought scarcely any other 
books ; I therefore filled all the little spaces that oc- 
curred between the remarkable days in the calendar 
with proverbial sentences, chiefly &uch as inculcated 
industry and frugality as the means of procuring 
wealth, and thereby securing virtue ; it being more 
difficult for a man in want to act always honestly, as, 
to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard for an 
emjity sach to stand iqwlght. 

These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of 
many ages and nations, I assembled and formed into 
a connected discourse prefixed to the Almanack of 
1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people 
attending an auction. The bringing all these scat- 
tered counsels thus into a focus enabled them to make 
greater impression. The piece, being universally ap- 
proved, was copied in all the newspapers of the Con- 
tinent ; reprinted in Britain on a broadside, to be 



XII Mm- February hath xxviii days^ 



Man's rich with Jjtcle, were his Judgment true, 
NTature is frugal^ and her Wanfs are few ; 
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But Fools create tliemfslveS new Appetites. 
Fancy and Pride fcek: Things at vaft Expence, 
Which lelifh not ro Red/on nor to Serr/e 
Like Gats in Airp'Jf!?ps, to fubfift weibive 
Onjoys too thin ro kepp the Soulalive. 

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 119 

stuck up in houses ; two translations were made of it 
in French, and great numbers bought by the clergy 
and gentry, to distribute gratis among their poor 
parishioners and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it dis- 
couraged useless expense in foreign superfluities, some 
thought it had its share of influence in producing that 
growing plenty of money which was observable for 
several years after its publication. 

I considered my newspaper, also, as another means 
of communicating instruction, and in that view fre- 
quently reprinted in it extracts from the Spectator, 
and other moral writers ; and sometimes published 
little pieces of my own, which had been first composed 
for reading in our Junto. Of these are a Socratic 
dialogue, tending to prove that, whatever might be 
his parts and abilities, a vicious man could not prop- 
erly be called a man of sense ; and a discourse on 
self-denial, showing that virtue was not secure till its 
practice became a habitude, and was free from the 
opposition of contrary inclinations. These may be 
found in the papers about the beginning of 1735. 

In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully ex- 
cluded all libelling and personal abuse, which is of 
late years become so disgraceful to our country. 
Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that 
kind, and the writers pleaded, as they generally did, 
the liberty of the press, and that a newspaper was 
like a stage-coach, in which any one who would pay 
had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would 
print , the piece separately if desired, and the author 
might have as many copies as he pleased to distribute 
himself, but that I would not take upon me to spread 
his detraction ; and that, having contracted with my 
subscribers to furnish them with what might be either 



120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

useful or entertaining, I could not fill their papers 
with private altercation, in which they had no con- 
cern, without doing them manifest injustice. Now, 
many of our printers make no scruple of gratifying 
the malice of individuals by false accusations of the 
fairest characters among ourselves, augmenting ani° 
mosity even to the producing of duels ; and are, more- 
over, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on 
the government of neighboring states, and even on the 
conduct of our best national allies, which may be at- 
tended with the most pernicious consequences. These 
things I mention as a caution to young printers, and 
that they may be encouraged not to pollute their 
presses and disgrace their profession by such infa- 
mous practices, but refuse steadily, as they may see by 
my example that such a course of conduct will not, 
on the whole, be injurious to their interests. 

In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, where a printer was wanting. 
I furnished him with a press and letters, on an agree- 
ment of partnership, by which I was to receive one 
third of the profits of the business, paying one third 
of the expense. He was a man of learning, and hon- 
est but ignorant in matters of account ; and, though 
he sometimes made me remittances, I could get no ac- 
count from him, nor any satisfactory state of our part- 
nership while he lived. On his decease, the business 
was continued by his widow, who, being born and 
bred in Holland, where, as I have been informed, the 
knowledge of accounts makes a part of female educa^ 
tion, she not only "feent me as clear a state as she could 
find of the transactions past, but continued to account 
with the greatest regularity and exactness every quar- 
ter afterwards, and managed the business with such 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 121 

success, that she not only brought up reputably a 
family of children, but, at the expiration of the term, 
was able to purchase of me the printing-hen se, and 
establish her son in it. 

I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recom- 
mending that branch of education for our young fe= 
males, as likely to be of more use to them and their 
children, in case of widowhood, than either music or 
dancing, by preserving them from losses by imposi- 
tion of crafty men, and enabling them to continue, 
perhaps, a profitable mercantile house, with established 
correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to undertake 
and go on with it, to the lasting advantage and en- 
riching of the family. 

About the year 1734 there arrived among us from 
Ireland a young Presbyterian preacher, named Hemp- 
hill, who delivered with a good voice, and apparently 
extempore, most excellent discourses, which drew to- 
gether considerable numbers of different persuasions, 
who joined in admiring them. Among the rest, I be- 
came one of his constant hearers, his sermons pleas- 
ing me, as they had little of the dogmatical kind, but 
inculcated strongly the practice of virtue, or what in 
the religious style are called good works. Those, how- 
ever, of our congregation, who considered themselves 
as orthodox Presbyterians, disapproved his doctrine, 
and were joined by most of the old clergy, who ar- 
raigned him of heterodoxy before the synod, in order 
to have him silenced. I became his zealous parti- 
san, and contributed all I could to raise a party in his 
favor, and we combated for him a while with some 
hopes of success. There was much scribbling j)ro and 
con upon the occasion ; and finding that, though an 
elegant preacher, he w^as but a poor writer, I lent him 



122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

my pen and wrote for him two or three pamphlets, 
and one piece in the Gazette of April, 1735. Those 
pamphlets, as is generally the case with controversial 
writings, though eagerly read at the time, were soon 
out of vogue, and I question whether a single copy of 
them now exists. 

During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his 
cause exceedingly. One of our adversaries having 
heard him preach a sermon that was much admired, 
thought he had somewhere read the sermon before, or 
at least a part of it. On search, he found that part 
quoted at length, in one of the British Reviews, from 
a discourse of Dr. Foster's. This detection gave 
many of our party disgust, who accordingly aban- 
doned his cause, and occasioned our more speedy dis- 
comfiture in the synod. I stuck by him, however, as 
I rather approved his giving us good sermons com- 
posed by others, than bad ones of his own manufac- 
ture, though the latter was the practice of our com- 
mon teachers. He afterward acknowledged to me 
that none of those he preached were his own ; adding, 
that his memory was such as enabled him to retain 
and repeat any sermon after one reading only. On 
our defeat, he left us in search elsewhere of better 
fortune, and I quitted the congregation, never joining 
it after, though I continued many years my subscrip- 
tion for the support of its ministers. 

I had begun in 1733 to study languages ; I soon 
made myself so much a master of the French as to 
be able to read the books with ease. I then under- 
took the Italian. An acquaintance, who was also 
learning it, used often to tempt me to play chess with 
him. Finding this took up too much of the time I 
had to spare for study, I at length refused to play an^ 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 123 

more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every 
game should have a right to impose a task, either in 
parts of the grammar to be got by heart, or in trans= 
lations, etc., which tasks the vanquished was to per- 
form upon honor, before our next meeting. As we 
played pretty equally, we thus beat one another into 
that language. I afterwards, with a little painstak- 
ing, acquired as much of the Spanish as to read their 
books also. 

I have already mentioned that I had only one 
year's instruction in a Latin school, and that when 
very young, after which I neglected that language 
entirely. But when I had attained an acquaintance 
with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was sur- 
prised to find, on looking over a Latin Testament, 
that I understood so much more of that language 
than I had imagined, which encouraged me to apply 
myself again to the study of it, and I met w4th more 
success, as those preceding languages had greatly 
smoothed my way. 

From these circumstances, I have thought that 
there is some inconsistency in our common mode of 
teaching languages. We are told that it is proper to 
begin first w4th the Latin, and, having acquired that, 
it will be more easy to attain those modern languages 
which are derived from it ; and yet we do not begin 
with the Greek, in order more easily to acquire the 
Latin. It is true that, if you can clamber and get to 
the top of a staircase without using the steps, you will 
more easily gain them in descending ; but certainly, if 
you begin with the lowest you will with more ease as- 
cend to the top ; and I would therefore offer it to the 
consideration of those who superintend the education 
of our youth, whether, since many of those who begin 



124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

• 
with the Latin quit the same after spending some 
years without having made any great proficiency, and 
what they have learned becomes almost useless, so 
that their time has been lost, it would not have been 
better to have begun with the French, proceeding to 
the Italian, etc. ; for, though, after spending the same 
time, they should quit the study of languages and 
never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have 
acquired another tongue or two, that, being in modern 
use, miaht be serviceable to them in common life. 

After ten years' absence from Boston, and having 
become easy in my circumstances, I made a journey 
thither to visit my relations, which I could not sooner 
well afford. In returnkig, I called at Newport to see 
my brother, then settled there with his printing-house. 
Our former differences were forgotten, and our meet- 
ing was very cordial and affectionate. He was fast 
declining in his health, and requested of me that, in 
case of his death, which he apprehended not far dis- 
tant, I would take home his son, then but ten years of 
age, and bring him up to the printing business. This 
I accordingly performed, sending him a few years to 
school before I took him into the office. His mother 
carried on the business till he was grown up, when 
I assisted him with an assortment of new types, those 
of his father being in a manner worn out. Thus it 
was that I made my brother ample amends for the 
service I had deprived him of by leaving him so 
early. 

In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four 

years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. 

I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had 

not given it to him by inoculation.^ This I mention 

^ At that time the prevention of small -pox by vaccination was not 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 125 

for the s^ke of parents wlio omit that operation, on 
the supposition that they should never forgive them- 
selves if a child died under it ; my example showing 
that the regret may be the same either way, and that, 
therefore, the safer should be chosen. 

Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and af- 
forded such satisfaction to the members, that several 
were desirous of introducing their friends, which could 
not well be done without exceeding what we had set- 
tled as a convenient number, viz., twelve. We had 
from the beginning made it a rule to keep our institu- 
tion a secret, which was pretty well observed ; the in- 
tention was to avoid applications of improper persons 
for admittance, some of whom, perhaps, we might find 
it difficult to refuse. I was one of those who were 
against any addition to our number, but, instead of it, 
made in writing a proposal that every member sep- 
arately should endeavor to form a subordinate club, 
with the same rules respecting queries, etc., and with- 
out informing them of the connection with the Junto. 
The advantages proposed were, the improvement of 
so many more young citizens by the use of our institu- 
tions ; our better acquaintance with the general sen- 
timents of the inhabitants on any occasion, as the 
Junto member might propose what queries we should 
desire, and was to report to the Junto what passed in 
his separate club ; the promotion of our particular in- 
terests in business by more extensive recommendation, 
and the increase of our influence in public affairs, 
and our power of doing good by spreading through the 
several clubs the sentiments of the Junto. 

known. Instead, the disease was given by inoculation to healthy per- 
sons, who thus escaped the more serious evils and were secure when 
the small-pox was an epidemic. 



126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

The project was ajjproved, and every member mi- 
dertook to form his club, but they did not all succeed. 
Five or six only were completed, which were called 
by different names, as the Vine, the Union, the Band, 
etc. They were useful to themselves, and afforded us 
a good deal of amusement, information, and instruc- 
tion, besides answering, in some considerable degree, 
our views of influencing the public opinion on par- 
ticular occasions, of which I shall give some instances 
in course of time as they happened. 

My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, 
clerk of the General Assembly. The choice was made 
that year without opposition ; but the year following, 
when I was again proposed (the choice, like that of 
the members, being annual), a new member made a 
long speech against me, in order to favor some other 
candidate. I was, however, chosen, which was the 
more agreeable to me, as, besides the pay for the im- 
mediate service as clerk, the place gave me a better 
opportunity of keeping up an interest among the 
members, which secured to me the business of printing 
the votes, laws, paper money, and other occasional 
jobs for the public, that, on the whole, were very 
profitable. 

I therefore did not like the opposition of this new 
member, who was a gentleman of fortune and edu- 
cation, with talents that were likely to give him, in 
time, great influence in the House, which indeed af- 
terwards happened. I did not, however, aim at gain= 
ing his favor by paying any servile respect to him, 
but, after some time, took this other method. Having 
heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce 
and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing 
my desire of })erusing that book, and requesting he 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 127 

would do me the favor of lending it to me for a few 
days. He sent it immediately, and I returned it in 
about a week with another note, expressing strongly 
my sense of the favor. When we next met in the 
House, he spoke to me (which he had never done be- 
fore), and with great civility ; and he ever after man= 
ifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so 
that we became great friends, and our friendship con- 
tinued to his death. This is another instance of the 
truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, " He 
that has once done yon. a hindness will he more ready 
to do yon another, than he whom yon yourself ham 
obliged'' And it shows how much more profitable it 
is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, and 
continue inimical proceedings. 

In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Vir- 
ginia, and then postmaster-general, being dissatisfied 
with the conduct of his deputy at Philadelphia, re- 
specting some negligence in rendering, and inexacti- 
tude of his accounts, took from him the commission 
and offered it to me. I accepted it readily, and found 
it of great advantage ; for though the salary was small 
it facilitated the correspondence that improved my 
newspaper, increased the number demanded, as well 
as the advertisements to be inserted, so that it came 
to afford me a considerable income. My old com- 
petitor's newspaper declined proportionably, and I 
was satisfied without retaliating his refusal, while 
postmaster, to permit my papers being carried by the 
riders. Thus he suffered greatly from his neglect in 
due accounting ; and I mention it as a lesson to those 
young men who may be employed in managing affairs 
for others, that they should always render accounts, 
and make remittances, with great clearness and punc- 



128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

tuallty. The character of observing such a conduct is 
the most powerful of all recommendations to new em- 
ployments and increase of business. 

I began now to turn my thoughts a little to public 
affairs, beginning, however, with small matters. The 
city watch was one of the first things that I con- 
ceived to want regulation. It was managed by the 
constables of the respective wards in turn ; the con- 
stable warned a number of housekeepers to attend 
him for the night. Those who chose never to attend 
paid him six shillings a year to be excused, which was 
supposed to be for hiring substitutes, but was, in real- 
ity, much more than was necessary for that purpose, 
and made the constableship a place of profit; and the 
constable, for a little drink, often got such ragamuf- 
fins about him as a watch, that respectable house- 
keepers did not choose to mix with. Walking the 
rounds, too, was often neglected, and most of the 
nights spent in tippling. I thereupon wrote a paper 
to be read in Junto, representing these irregularities, 
but insisting more particularly on the inequality of 
this six-shilling tax of the constables, respecting the 
circumstances of those who paid it, since a poor widow 
housekeeper, all whose property to be guarded by the 
watch did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, 
paid as much as the wealthiest merchant, who had 
thousands of pounds' worth of goods in his stores. 

On the whole, I proposed as a more effectual watch, 
the hiring of proper men to serve constantly in that 
business ; and as a more equitable way of supporting 
the charge, the levying a tax that should be propor- 
tioned to the property This idea, being approved by 
the Junto, was communicated to the other clubs, but 
as arising in each of them ; and though the plan was 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 129 

not immediately carried into execution, yet, by pre- 
paring the minds of people for the change, it paved 
the way for the law obtained a few years after, when 
the members of our clubs were grown into more in- 
fluence. 

About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in 
Junto, but it was afterward published) on the different 
accidents and carelessnesses by which houses were set 
on fire, with cautions against them, and means pro- 
posed of avoiding them. This was much spoken of as 
a useful piece, and gave rise to a project, which soon 
followed it, of forming a company for the more ready 
extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance in remov- 
ing and securing of goods when in danger. Asso- 
ciates in this scheme were presently found, amounting 
to thirty. Our articles of agreement obliged every 
member to keep always in good order, and fit for use, 
a certain number of leather buckets, with strong bags 
and baskets (for packing and transporting of goods), 
which were to be brought to every fire ; and we 
agreed to meet once a month and spend a social even- 
ing together, in discoursing and communicating such 
ideas as occurred to us upon the subject of fires, as 
might be useful in our conduct on such occasions. 

The utility of this institution soon appeared, and 
many more desiring to be admitted than v^e thought 
convenient for one company, they were advised to 
form another, w^hich was accordingly done ; and this 
went on, one new company being formed after an- 
other, till they became so numerous as to include most 
of the inhabitants who were men of property; and 
now, at the time of my writing this, though upward of 
fifty years since its establishment, that which I first 



130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

formed, called the Union Fire Company, ^ still subsists 
and flourishes, though the first members are all de- 
ceased but myself and one, who is older by a year than 
I am. The small fines that have been paid by mem- 
bers for absence at the monthly meetings have been 
applied to the purchase of fire-engines, ladders, fire- 
hooks, and other useful implements for each company, 
so that I question whether there is a city in the world 
better provided with the means of putting a stop to 
beginning conflagrations ; and, in fact, since these in- 
stitutions, the city has never lost by fire more than 
one or two houses at a time, and the flames have often 
been extinguished before the house in which they be- 
gan had been half consumed. 

1 Volunteer fire-companies were the rule even in great cities until 
a generation ago, when they began to give place to paid companies. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 131 



VIT. 

GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 

In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Rev- 
erend Mr. Wliitefield, who had made himself remark- 
able there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first 
permitted to preach in some of our churches ; but the 
clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their 
pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the fields. 
The multitudes of all sects and denominations that 
attended his sermons were enormous, and it was mat- 
ter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, 
to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory 
on his hearers, and how much they admired and re- 
spected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of 
them, by assuring them they were naturally half beasts 
and half devils. It was wonderful to see the change 
soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From 
being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it 
seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so 
that one could not walk through the town in an even- 
ing without hearing psalms sung in different families 
of every street. 

And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the 
open air, subject to its inclemencies, the building of a 
house to meet in was no sooner proposed, and persons 
appointed to receive contributions, but sufficient sums 
were soon received to procure the ground and erect the 
building, which was one hundred feet long and seventy 



132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

broad, about the size of Westminster Hall ; and the 
work was carried on with such spirit as to be finished 
in a much shorter time than could have been expected. 
Both house and ground were vested in trustees, ex- 
pressly for the use of any preacher of any religious 
persuasion who might desire to say something to the 
people at Philadelphia; the design in building not 
being to accommodate any particular sect, but the in- 
habitants in general; so that even if the Mufti of 
Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach 
Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulj)it at his 
service. 

Mr. Whitefield, in leaving us, went preaching all 
the way through the Colonies to Georgia. The settle- 
ment of that province had lately been begun, but, in- 
stead of being made with hardy, industrious husband- 
men accustomed to labor, the only people fit for such 
an enterprise, it was with families of broken shop- 
keepers and other insolvent debtors, many of indolent 
and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, being set 
down in the woods, unqualified for clearing land, and 
unable to endure the hardships of a new settlement, 
perished in numbers, leaving many helpless children 
unprovided for.^ The sight of their miserable situ- 
ation inspired the benevolent heart of Mr. Whitefield 
with the idea of building an Orphan House there, in 
which they might be supported and educated. Re- 
turning northward, he preached up this charity, and 
made large collections, for his eloquence had a won- 



^ Although Georgia suffered in its early settlement, as Franklin 
points ont, the colony was Avisely planned to afford a new chance in 
life to Eng-lishmen who Avere oppressed by severe commercial laws in 
England. The insolvent debtors were not so despicable a class aa 
Franklin seems to intimate. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 133 

flerful power over the hearts and purses of his hearers, 
of which I myself was an instance. 

I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia 
was then destitute of materials and workmen, and it 
v/as proposed to send them from Philadelphia at a 
great expense, I thought it would have been better to 
have built the house here, and brought the children to 
it. This I advised ; but he was resolute in his first 
project, rejected my counsel, and I therefore refused 
to contribute. I happened soon after to attend one of 
his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he in- 
tended to finish with a collection, and I silently re- 
solved he should get nothing from me. I had in my 
pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver 
dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I 
began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers. 
Another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of 
that, and determined me to give the silver ; and he 
finished so admirably, that I emptied my pocket wholly 
into the collector's dish, gold and all. At this sermon 
there was also one of our club, who, being of my senti- 
ments respecting the building in Georgia, and suspect- 
ing a collection might be intended, had, by precaution, 
emptied his pockets before he came from home. To- 
wards the conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt 
a strong desire to give, and applied to a neighbor, who 
stood near him, to borrov/ some money for the pur= 
pose. The application was unfortunately [made] to 
perhaps the only man in the company who had the 
firmness not to be affected by the preacher. His an- 
swer was, ^^ At any other time^ Friend HopMnson., 1 
would lend to thee freely ; hid not now., for thee seems 
to he Old of thy right senses.''^ 

Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to sup- 



134 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

pose that he would apply these collections to his own 
private emolument ; but I, who was intimately ac- 
quainted with him (being employed in printing his 
Sermons and Journals, etc.), never had the least sus- 
picion of his integrity, but am to this day decidedly 
of opinion that he was in all his conduct a perfectly 
honest man ; and methinks my testimony in his favor 
ought to have the more weight, as we had no religious 
connection. He used, indeed, sometimes to pray for 
my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of be- 
lieving that his prayers were heard. Ours was a mere 
civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted to 
his death. 

The following instance will show something of the 
terms on which we stood. Upon one of his arrivals 
from England at Boston he wrote to me that he 
should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where 
he could lodge when there, as he understood his old 
friend and host, Mr. Benezet, was removed to German- 
town. My answer was, " You know my house ; if you 
can make shift with its scanty accommodations, you 
will be most heartily welcome." He replied, that if 
I made that kind offer for Christ's sake, I should not 
miss of a reward. And I returned, " Dont let me he 
mistaken ; it was not for Christ's sake, hut for your 
sake.'' One of our common acquaintance jocosely re- 
marked, that, knowing it to be the custom of the saints, 
when they received any favor, to shift the burden of 
the obligation from off their own shoulders, and place 
it in heaven, I had contrived to fix it on earth. 

The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, 
when he consulted me about his Orphan House con. 
cern, and his jDurpose of appropriating it to the estab 
lishment of a college. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 135 

He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated Ais 
words and sentences so perfectly, that he might be 
heard and* understood at a great distance, especially as 
his auditories, however numerous, observed the most 
exact silence. He preached one evening from the top 
of the Court-House steps, which are in the middle of 
Market Street, and on the west side of Second Street, 
which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were 
filled with his hearers to a considerable distance. 
Being among the hindmost in Market Street, I had 
the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by 
retiring backwards down the street towards the river ; 
and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front 
Street, when some noise in that street obscured it. 
Imagining then a semicircle, of which my distance 
should be the radius, and that it were filled with audi- 
tors, to each of whom I allowed two square feet, I 
computed that he might well be heard by more than 
thirty thousand. This reconciled me to the newspaper 
accounts of his having preached to twenty-five thou- 
sand people in the fields, and to the ancient histories 
of generals haranguing whole armies, of which I had 
sometimes doubted. 

By hearing him often, I came to distinguish easily 
between sermons newly composed, and those which he 
had often preached in the course of his travels. His 
delivery of the latter was so improved by frequent 
repetitions that every accent, every emphasis, every 
modulation of voice was so perfectly well turned and 
well placed, that, without being interested in the sub- 
ject, one could not help being pleased with the dis- 
course ; a pleasure of much the same kind with that 
received from an excellent piece of music. This is an 
advantage itinerant preachers have over those who are 



136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

stationary, as the latter cannot well improve their de- 
livery of a sermon by so many rehearsals. 

His writing- and printing from time to time gave 
great advantage to his enemies ; unguarded expres- 
sions, and even erroneous opinions, delivered in preach= 
ing, might have been afterwards explained or quali- 
fied by supposing others that might have accompanied 
them, or they might have been denied; but Utera 
scri2Jta manet.^ Critics attacked his writings vio- 
lently, and with so much appearance of reason as to 
diminish the number of his votaries and prevent their 
increase ; so that I am of opinion if he had never 
written anything, he would have left behind him a 
much more numerous and important sect, and his 
reputation might in that case have been still growing, 
even after his death, as there being nothing of his 
writing on which to found a censure and give him a 
lower character, his proselytes would be left at liberty 
to feign for him as great a variety of excellences as 
their enthusiastic admiration might wish him to have 
possessed. 

My business was now continually augmenting, and 
my circumstances growing daily easier, my newspaper 
having become very profitable, as being for a time al- 
most the only one in this and the neighboring prov- 
inces. I experienced, too, the truth of the observation, 
" that after getting the first hundred pounds it is more 
easy to get the second^^ money itself being of a ^vo- 
lific nature. 

1 In other words, what is written down stays when what is merelj 
spoken is forgotten. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 137 



vm. 

begin:ning of public life. 

The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I 
was encouraged to engage in others, and to promote 
several of my workmen, who had behaved well, by 
establishing them with printing-houses in different 
colonies, on the same terms with that in Carolina. 
Most of them did well, being enabled at the end of 
our term, six years, to purchase the types of me and 
go on working for themselves, by which means sev- 
eral families were raised. Partnerships often finish 
in quarrels ; but I was happy in this, that mine were 
all carried on and ended amicably, owing, I think, a 
good deal to the precaution of having very explicitly 
settled, in our articles, everything to be done by or 
expected from each partner, so that there was nothing 
to dispute, which precaution I would therefore recom- 
mend to all who enter into partnerships ; for, whatever 
esteem partners may have for, and confidence in each 
other at the time of the contract, little jealousies and 
disgusts may arise, with ideas of inequality in the care 
and burden of the business, etc., which are attended 
often with breach of friendship and of the connection, 
perhaps with lawsuits and other disagreeable conse- 
quences. 

I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied 
with my being established in Pennsylvania. There 
were, however, two things that I regretted, there being 



138 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

no provision for defence, nor for a complete education 
of youth ; no militia, nor any college. I therefore, in 

1743, drew up a proposal for establishing an academy ; 
and at that time, thinking the Reverend !Mr. Peters, 
who was out of employ, a fit person to suj)erintend 
such an institution, I communicated the project to 
him ; but he, having more profitable views in the ser- 
vice of the proprietaries, which succeeded, declined 
the undertaking; and, not knowing another at that 
time suitable for such a trust, I let the scheme lie a 
while dormant. I succeeded better the next year, 

1744, in proposing and establishing a Philosophical 
Society.^ The paper I wrote for that purpose will be 
found among my writings, when collected. 

With respect to defence, Spain having been sev- 
eral years at war against Great Britain, and being at 
length joined by France, which brought us into great 
danger, and the labored and long - continued en- 
deavor of our governor, Thomas, to prevail with our 
Quaker Assembly to pass a militia law, and make 
other provisions for the security of the province, hav- 
ing proved abortive, I determined to try what might 
be done by a voluntary association of the people. To 
promote this, I first wrote and published a pamphlet, 
entitled Plain Truth, in which I stated our defence- 
less situation in strong lights, with the necessity of 
union and discipline for our defence, and promised to 
propose in a few days an association, to be generally 
signed for that purpose. The pamphlet had a sudden 
and surprising effect. I was called upon for the in- 

1 Six of the nine original members of tlie American Philosophical 
Society were members of the Junto. The society still continues. It 
was designed by Franklin to give a common ground of association ta 
those in the various American colonies who were pursuing- studies in 
science and philosophy. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 139 

strument of association, and having settled the draft 
of it with a few friends, I appointed a meeting of the 
citizens in the large building before mentioned. The 
house was pretty full ; I had prepared a number of 
printed copies, and provided pens and ink dispersed 
all over the room. I harangued them a little on the 
subject, read the paper, and explained it, and then dis- 
tributed the copies, which were eagerly signed, not the 
least objection being made. 

When the company separated, and the papers were 
collected, we found above twelve hundred hands ; 
and other copies being dispersed in the country, the 
subscribers amounted at length to upward of ten thou- 
sand. These all furnished themselves as soon as they 
could with arms, formed themselves into companies 
and regiments, chose their own officers, and met every 
week to be instructed in the manual exercise, and 
other parts of military discipline. The women, by 
subscriptions among themselves, provided silk colors, 
which they presented to the companies, painted with 
different devices and mottoes, which I supplied. 

The officers of the companies composing the Phila- 
delphia regiment, being met, chose me for their col- 
onel ; but, conceiving myself unfit, I declined that 
station, and recommended Mr. Lawrence, a fine per- 
son, and man of influence, who was accordingly ap= 
pointed. I then proposed a lottery to defray the ex- 
pense of building a battery below the town, and fur- 
nishing it with cannon. It filled expeditiously, and 
the battery was soon erected, the merlons being framed 
of logs and filled with earth. We bought some old 
cannon from Boston, but these not being sufficient, 
we wrote to England for more, soliciting, at the same 
time, our proprietaries for some assistance, though 
without much expectation of obtaining it. 



140 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Meanwhile Colonel Lawrence, William Allen, 
Abram Taylor, Esquire, and myself were sent to New 
York by the associators, commissioned to borrow some 
cannon of Governor Clinton. He at first refused us 
peremptorily; but at dinner with his council, where 
there was great drinking of Madeira wine, as the cus- 
tom of that place then was, he softened by degrees, 
and said lie would lend us six. After a few more 
bumpers he advanced to ten ; and at length he very 
good-naturedly conceded eighteen. They were fine 
cannon, eighteen-pounders, with their carriages, which 
we soon transported and mounted on our battery, 
where the associators kept a nightly gUard while the 
war lasted, and among the rest I regularly took my 
iuxn of duty there as a common soldier. 

My activity in these operations was agreeable to 
the governor and council ; they took me into con- 
fidence, and I was consulted by them in every meas- 
ure wherein their concurrence was thought useful to 
the association. Calling in the aid of religion, I pro- 
posed to them the proclaiming a fast, to promote ref- 
ormation, and implore the blessing of Heaven on our 
undertaking. They embraced the motion ; but, as it 
was the first fast ever thought of in the province, the 
secretary had no precedent from which to draw the 
proclamation. My education in New England, where 
a fast is proclaimed every year, was here of some 
advantage : I drew it in the accustomed style ; it was 
translated into German, printed in both languages, and 
divulged through the province. This gave the clergy 
of the different sects an opportunity of influencing 
their congregations to join in the association, and it 
would probably have been general among all but 
Quakers if the peace had not soon intervened. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 141 

It was thought by some of my friends that, by my 
activity in these affairs, I should offend that sect, and 
thereby lose my interest in the Assembly of the prov= 
ince, where they formed a great majorit}^ A young- 
gentleman, who had likewise some friends in the 
House, and wished to succeed me as their clerk, ac- 
quainted me that it was decided to displace me at the 
next election ; and he, therefore, in good will, advised 
me to resign, as more consistent with my honor than 
being turned out. My answer to him was, that I had 
read or heard of some public man who made it a rule 
never to ask for an office, and never to refuse one 
when offered to him. '' I approve," says I, " of his 
rule, and will practise it with a small addition : I 
shall never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign an 
office. If they will have my office of clerk to dispose 
of to another, they shall take it from me. I will not, 
by giving it up, lose my right of some time or other 
making reprisals on my adversaries." I heard, how- 
ever, no more of this ; I was chosfen again unan- 
imously as usual at the next election. Possibly, as 
they disliked my late intimacy with the members of 
council, who had joined the governors in all the dis- 
putes about military preparations, with which the 
House had long been harassed, they might have been 
pleased if I would voluntaril}^ have left them; but 
they did not care to displace me on account merely of 
my zeal for the association, and they could not well 
give another reason. 

Indeed, I had some cause to believe that the defence 
of the country was not disagreeable to any of them, 
provided they were not required to assist in it. And 
I found that a much greater number of them than I 
could have imagined, though against offensive war, 



142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

were clearly for the defensive. Many pamphlets pro 
and con were published on the subject, and some by 
good Quakers, in favor of defence, which I believe con- 
vinced most of their younger people. 

A transaction in our fire company gave me some 
insight into their prevailing sentiments. It had been 
proposed that we should encourage the scheme for 
building a battery by laying out the present stock, 
then about sixty pounds, in tickets of the lottery. ^ 
By our rules, no money could be disposed of till the 
next meeting after the proposal. The company con- 
sisted of thirty members, of which twenty-two were 
Quakers, and eight only of other persuasions. We 
eight punctually attended the meeting ; but though we 
thought that some of the Quakers would join us, we 
were by no means sure of a majority. Only one 
Quaker, Mr. James Morris, appeared to oppose the 
measure. He expressed much sorrow that it had ever 
been proposed, as he said Friends were all against it, 
and it would create such discord as might break up 
the company. We told him that we saw no reason 
for that ; we were the minority, and if Friends were 
against the measure, and outvoted us, we must and 
should, agreeably to the usage of all societies, submit. 
When the hour for business arrived it was moved to 
put the vote ; he allowed we might then do it by the 
rules, but, as he could assure us that a number of 
members intended to be present for the purpose of 
opposing it, it would be but candid to allow a little 
time for their appearing. 

^ At this time and for many years after, a lottery was the common 
mode for raising money for public and philanthropic purposes. By 
degrees men came to see that it confused people's notions as to right 
and wrong ways of getting money and encouraged those who might 
otherwise be industrious to trust to luck. Thus in course of time the 
lottery has come to be looked upon as a kind of gambling. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 143 

While we were disputing tins, a waiter came to tell 
me two gentlemen below desired to speak witli me. 
I went down, and found they were two of our Quaker 
members. They told me there were eight of them 
assembled at a tavern just by ; that they were deter- 
mined to come and vote with us if there should be oc= 
casion, which they hoped would not be the case, and 
desired we would not call for their assistance if we 
could do without it, as their voting for such a meas- 
ure might embroil them with their elders and friends. 
Being thus secure of a majorit}^ I went up, and after 
a little seeming hesitation, agreed to a delay of an- 
other hour. This Mr. Morris allowed to be extremely 
fair. Not one of his opposing friends appeared, at 
which he expressed great surprise ; and at the expira- 
tion of the hour, we carried the resolution eight to 
one ; and as, of the twenty-two Quakers, eight were 
ready to vote with us, and thirteen, by their absence, 
manifested that they were not inclined to oppose the 
measure, I afterwards estimated the proportion of 
Quakers sincerely against defence as one to twenty- 
one only ; for these were all regular members of that 
society, and in good reputation among them, and had 
due notice of what was proposed at that meeting. 

The honorable and learned Mr. Logan, who had al- 
ways been of that sect, was one who wrote an address 
to them, declaring his approbation of defensive war, 
and supporting his opinion by many strong arguments. 
He put into my hands sixty pounds to be laid out 
in lottery tickets for the battery, with directions to 
apply what prizes might be drawn wholly to that ser- 
vice. He told me the following anecdote of his old 
master, William Penn, respecting defence. He came 
over from England, when a young man, with that pro- 



144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

prietary, and as his secretary. It was war time, and 
their ship was chased by an armed vessel, supposed to 
be an enemy. Their captain prepared for defence ; 
but told William Penn, and his company of Quakers, 
that he did not expect their assistance, and they might 
retire into the cabin, which they did, except James 
Logan, who chose to stay upon deck, and was quartered 
to a gun. The supposed enemy proved a friend, so 
there was no fighting; but when the secretary went 
down to communicate the intelligence, William Penn 
rebuked him severely for staying upon deck, and under- 
taking to assist in defending the vessel, contrary to the 
principles of Friends^ especially as it had not been re- 
quired by the captain. This reproof, being before all 
the company, piqued the secretary, who answered, " / 
being thy servant^ lohy did thee not order me to come 
down f But thee was toilling enough that 1 should 
stay and help to fight the shqj when thee thought there 
was danger.'" 

My being many years in the Assembly, the majority 
of which were constantly Quakers, gave me frequent 
opportunities of seeing the embarrassment given them 
by their principle against war, whenever application 
was made to them, by order of the crown, to grant 
aids for military purposes. They were unwilling to 
offend government, on the one hand, by a direct re- 
fusal ; and their friends, the body of the Quakers, on 
the other, by a compliance contrary to their principles ; 
hence a variety of evasions to avoid complying, and 
modes of disguising the compliance when it became 
unavoidable. The common mode at last was, to grant 
money under the phrase of its being ^''for the ki?ig^s 
use,^^ and never to inquire how it was applied. 

But if the demand was not directly from the crown, 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 145 

that phrase was found not so proper, and some other 
was to be invented. As, when powder was wanting 
(1 think it was for the garrison at Louisburg), and 
the government of New England solicited a grant of 
some from Pennsylvania, which was much urged on 
the House by Governor Thomas, they could not grant 
money to buy powder, because that was an ingredient 
of war; but they voted an aid to New England of 
three thousand pounds, to be put into the hands of the 
governor, and appropriated it for the purchasing of 
bread, flour, wheat, or other grain. Some of the 
council, desirous of giving the. House still further em- 
barrassment, advised the governor not to accept pro- 
vision, as not being the thing he had demanded ; but 
he replied, " I shall take the money, for I understand 
very well their meaning ; other grain is gunpowder," 
which he accordingly bought, and they never objected 
to it. 

It was in allusion to this fact that when, in our fire 
company, we feared the success of our proposal in 
favor of the lottery, and I had said to my friend 
Mr. Syng, one of our members, " If we fail, let ils 
move the purchase of a fire-engine with the money ; 
the Quakers can have no objection to that ; and then, 
if you nominate me and I you as a committee for that 
purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is certainly a 
fire-engine.''^ " I see," says he, " you have improved 
by being so long in the Assembly ; your equivocal pro- 
ject would be just a match for their wheat or other 
grain.'' 

These embarrassments that the Quakers suffered 
from having established and published it as one of 
their principles that no kind of war was lawful, and 
which, being once published, they could not afterwards, 



146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

however they might change their minds, easily get rid 
of, reminds me of what I think a more prudent con- 
duct in another sect among us, that of the Dunkers. 
I was acquainted with one of its founders, Michael 
Welfare, soon after it appeared. He complained to 
me that they were grievously calumniated by the 
zealots of other persuasions, and charged with abomi- 
nable principles and practices, to which they were 
utter strangers. I told him this had always been the 
case with new sects, and that, to put a stop to such 
abuse, I imagined it might be well to publish the arti- 
cles of their belief, and the^rules of their discipline. 
He said that it had been proposed among them, but 
not agreed to, for this reason : " When we were first 
drawn together as a society," says he, " it has pleased 
God to enlighten our minds so far as to see that some 
doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were errors ; 
and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were 
real truths. From time to time He has been pleased 
to afford us farther light, and our princij^les have been 
im23roving, and our errors diminishing. Now we are 
not sure that we are arrived at the end of this pro- 
gression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theologi- 
cal knowledge ; and we fear that, if we should once 
print our confession of faith, we should feel ourselves 
as if bound and confined by it, and perhaps be un- 
willing to receive farther improvement, and our suc- 
cessors still more so, as conceiving what we their elders 
and founders had done, to be something sacred, never 
to be departed from." 

This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance 
in the history of mankind, every other sect supposing 
itself in possession of all truth, and that those who 
differ are so far in the wrong ; like a man travelling ii? 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 147 

foggy weather, those at some distance before him on 
the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as 
those behind him, and also the people in the fields on 
each side, but near him all appears clear, though in 
truth he is as much in the fog as any of them. To 
avoid this kind of embarrassment, the Quakers have 
of late years been gradually declining the public ser- 
vice in the Assembly and in the magistracy, choosing 
rather to quit their power than their principle. 

In order of time, I should have mentioned before, 
that having, in 1742, invented an open stove for the 
better warming of rooms,^ and at the same time sav- 
ing fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in en- 
tering, I made a present of the model to Mr. Robert 
Grace, one of my early friends, who, having an iron- 
furnace, found the casting of the jDlates for these 
stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in de- 
mand. To promote that demand, I wrote and pub- 
lished a pamphlet, entitled " An Account of the neia- 
invented Pennsylvania Firejplaces ; wherein their 
Construction and Manner of Operation is particic- 
larly explained ; their Advantages above every other 
Method of warming Rooms demonstrated ; and all 
Objections that have been raised against the Use of 
them- answered and obviated^^ etc. This pamphlet 
had a good effect. Governor Thomas was so pleased 
with the construction of this stove, as described in it, 
that he offered to give me a patent for the sole vend- 
ing of them for a term of years ; but I declined it 
from a principle which has ever weighed with me on 
such occasions, viz., That, as we enjoy great advan- 

^ Still commonly known as the Franklin open fireplace. The 
chimneys in Franklin's time were so built as to waste fuel and con- 
sume heat. 



148 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

tag es from the inventions of others^ we should he glad 
of an ojyportunity to serve others hy any invention of 
ours ; and this ive should do freely and generously. 
An ironmonger in London, however, assuming a 
good deal of my pamphlet, and working it up into his 
own, and making some small changes in the machine, 
which rather hurt its operation, got a patent for it 
there, and made, as I was told, a little fortune by it. 
And this is not the only instance of patents taken out 
for my inventions by others, though not always with 
the same success, which I never contested, as having 
no desire of profiting by patents myself, and hating 
disputes. The use of these fireplaces in very many 
houses, both of this and the neighboring colonies, has 
been, and is, a great saving of wood to the inhabi- 
tants. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 149 



IX. 

A PUBLIC-SPIRITED GENTLEMAN. 

Peace being concluded, and the association busi- 
ness therefore at an end, I turned my thoughts again 
to the affair of establishing an academy. The first 
step I took was to associate in the design a number of 
active * friends, of whom the Junto furnished a good 
part ; the next was to write and publish a pamphlet, 
entitled P7'oposals relating to the Education of Youth 
in Pennsylvania. This I distributed among the prin- 
cipal inhabitants gratis ; and as soon as I could sup- 
pose their minds a little prepared by the perusal of it, 
I set on foot a subscription for opening and supporting 
an academy ; it v/as to be paid in quotas yearly for five 
years ; by so dividing it, I judged the subscription 
might be larger, and I believe it was so, amounting 
to no less, if I remember right, than five thousand 
pounds. 

In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their 
publication, not as an act of mine, but of some jnihlic- 
spirited gentlemen^ avoiding as much as I could, ac- 
cording to my usual rule, the presenting myself to the 
public as the author of any scheme for their benefit. 

The subscribers, to carry the project into immediate 
execution, chose out of their number twenty-four trus- 
tees, and appointed Mr. Francis, then attorney-general, 
and myself to draw up constitutions for the govern- 
ment of the academy ; which being done and signed^ 



150 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

a house was hired, masters engaged, and the schools 
opened, I thmk, in the same year, 1749. 

The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon 
found too small, and we were looking out for a piece 
of ground, properly situated, with intention to build, 
when Providence threw into our way a large house 
ready built, which, with a few alterations, might well 
serve our purpose. This was the building before men- 
tioned, erected by the hearers of Mr. Whitefield,^ and 
was obtained for us in the followinof manner. 

It is to be noted that the contributions to this build- 
ing being made by people of different sects, care was 
taken in the nomination of trustees, in whom the build- 
ing and ground was to be vested, that a predominancy 
should not be given to any sect, lest in time that pre- 
dominancy might be a means of appropriating the 
whole to the use of such sect, contrary to the original 
intention. It was therefore that one of each sect was 
appointed, viz., one Church - of - England man, one 
Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Moravian, etc., those, 
in case of vacancy by death, were to fill it by election 
from among the contributors. The Moravian hap- 
pened not to please his colleagues, and on his death 
they resolved to have no other of that sect. The diffi- 
culty then was, how to avoid having two of some other 
sect, by means of the new choice. 

Several j)ersons were named, and for that reason 
not agreed to. At length one mentioned me, with the 
observation that I was merely an honest man, and of 
no sect at all, which prevailed with them to choose 
me. The enthusiasm which existed when the house 
was built had long since abated, and its trustees had 
not been able to procure fresh contributions for pay 

^ This building was on the west side of Fourth Street, below Arch. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 151 

ing the ground-rent, and discharging some other debts 
the building had occasioned, which embarrassed them 
greatly. Being now a member of both sets of trus- 
tees, that for the building and that for the academy, 
I had a good opportunity of negotiating with both, 
and brought them finally to an agreement, by which 
the trustees for the building were to cede it to those 
of the academy, the latter undertaking to discharge 
the debt, to keep forever open in the building a large 
hall for occasional preachers, according to the original 
intention, and maintain a free school for the instruc- 
tion of poor children. Writings were accordingly 
drawn, and on paying the debts the trustees of the 
academy were put in possession of the premises ; and 
by dividing the great and lofty hall into stories, and 
different rooms above and below for the several 
schools, and purchasing some additional ground, the 
whole was soon made fit for our purpose, and the 
scholars removed into the building. The care and 
trouble of agreeing with the workmen, purchasing 
materials, and superintending the work, fell upon me; 
and I went through it the more cheerfully, as it did 
not then interfere with my private business, having 
the year before taken a very able, industrious, and 
honest partner, Mr. David Hall, with whose character 
I was well acquainted, as he had worked for me four 
years. He took off my hands all care of the printing 
office, paying me punctually my share of the profits. 
This partnership continued eighteen years, success- 
fully for us both. 

The trustees of the academy, after a while, were 
incorporated by a charter from the governor ; their 
funds were increased by contributions in Britain and 
grants of land from the proprietaries, to which the 



152 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

Assembly has since made considerable addition ; and 
thus was established the present University of Phila- 
delphia. I have been continued one of its trustees 
from the beginning, now near forty years, and have 
had the very great pleasure of seeing a number of the 
youth who have received their education in it, distin 
guished by their improved abilities, serviceable in pub 
lie stations, and ornaments to their country. 

When I disengaged myself, as above mentioned, from 
private business, I flattered myself that, by the suf- 
ficient though moderate fortune I had acquired, I had 
secured leisure during the rest of my life for philo- 
sophical studies and amusements. I purchased all Dr. 
Spence's apparatus, who had come from England to lec- 
ture here, and I proceeded in my electrical experiments 
with great alacrity ; but the public, now considering 
me as a man of leisure, laid hold of me for their pur- 
poses, every part of our civil government, and almost 
at the same time imposing some duty upon me. The 
governor put me into the commission of the peace ; 
the corporation of the city chose me of the common 
council, and soon after an alderman ; and the citizens 
at large chose me a burgess to rej^resent them in As- 
sembly. This latter station was the more agreeable 
to me, as I was at length tired with sitting there to 
hear debates, in which, as clerk, I could take no part, 
and which were often so unentertaining that I was 
induced to amuse myself with making magic squares 
or circles, or anything to avoid weariness ; and I con° 
ceived my becoming a member would enlarge my 
power of doing good. I would not, however, insinuate 
that my ambition was not flattered by all these promo- 
tions ; it certainly was ; for, considering my low be- 
ginning, they were great things to me ; and they were 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 153 

still more pleasing, as being so many spontaneous 
testimonies of the public good opinion, and by me en- 
tirely unsolicited. 

The office of justice of the peace I tried a little, by 
attending a few courts, and sitting on the bench to 
hear causes ; but finding that more knowledge of the 
common law than I possessed was necessary to act in 
that station with credit, I gradually withdrew from it, 
excusing myself by my being obliged to attend the 
higher duties of a legislator in the Assembly. My 
election to this trust was repeated every year for ten 
years, without my ever asking any elector for his vote, 
or signifying, either directly or indirectly, any desire 
of being chosen. On taking my seat in the House, 
my son was appointed their clerk. 

The year following, a treaty being to be held with 
the Indians at Carlisle, the governor sent a message 
to the House, proposing that they should nominate 
some of their members, to be joined with some mem- 
bers of council, as commissioners for that purpose. 
The House named the speaker (Mr. Norris) and my- 
self ; and, being commissioned, we went to Carlisle, 
and met the Indians accordingly. 

As those people are extremely apt to get drunk, 
and, when so, are very quarrelsome and disorderly, 
we strictly forbade the selling any liquor to them ; and 
when they complained of this restriction, we told them 
that if they would continue sober during the treaty, 
we would give them plenty of rum when business 
was over. They promised this, and they kept their 
promise because they could get no liquor, and the 
treaty was conducted very orderly, and concluded to 
mutual satisfaction. They then claimed and received 
the rum ; this was in the afternoon : they were near 



154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

one hundred men, women, and children, and were 
lodged in temporary cabins, built in the form of a 
square, just without the town. In the evening, hear- 
ing a great noise among them, the commissioners 
walked out to see what was the matter. We found they 
had made a great bonhre in the middle of the square; 
they were all drunk, men and women, quarrelling and 
fiofhtinof. Their dark-colored bodies, half naked, seen 
only by the gloomy light of the bonfire, running 
after and beating one another with firebrands, ac- 
companied by their horrid yellings, formed a scene the 
most resembling our ideas of hell that could well be 
imagined ; there was no appeasing the tumult, and we 
retired to our lodging. At midnight a number of 
them came thundering at our door, demanding more 
rum, of which we took no notice. 

The next day, sensible they had misbehaved in giving 
us that disturbance, they sent three of their old counsel- 
lors to make their apology. The orator acknowledged 
the fault, but laid it upon the rum ; and then endeavored 
to excuse the rum by saying, " The Great Sijirit, who 
made all things^ made everything for some use, and 
whatever use he designed anything for, that use it 
should always he put to. Now, when he made rum, he 
said, ' Let this he for the Indians to get drunk with,^ 
and it inust he so,^^ And, indeed, if it be the design 
of Providence to extirpate these savages in order to 
make room for cultivators of the earth, it seems not 
improbable that rum may be the appointed means. 
It has already annihilated all the tribes who formerly 
inhabited the sea-coast. 

In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend of 
mine, conceived the idea of establishing a hospital in 
Philadelphia (a very beneficent design, which has 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 155 

been ascribed to me, but was originally his) for the 
reception and cure of poor sick persons, whether in- 
habitants of the province or strangers. He was zeal- 
ous and active in endeavoring to procure subscriptions 
for it, but the proposal being a novelty in America, 
and at first not well understood, he met but with 
small success. 

At length he came to me with the compliment that 
he found there was no such thing as carrying a pub- 
lic-spirited project through without my being con- 
cerned in it. " For," says he, "I am often asked by 
those to whom I propose subscribing. Have you con- 
sulted Franklin upon this business ? And what does 
he think of it ? And when I tell them that I have 
not (supposing it rather out of your line), they do not 
subscribe, but say they will consider of it." I inquired 
into the nature and probable utility of his scheme, and 
receiving from him a very satisfactory explanation, I 
not only subscribed to it myself, but engaged heartily 
in the design of procuring subscriptions from others. 
Previously, however, to the solicitation I endeavored 
to prepare the minds of the people by writing on the 
subject in the newspapers, which was my usual custom 
in such cases, but which he had omitted. 

The subscriptions afterwards were more free and 
generous ; but, beginning to flag, I saw they would 
be insufficient without some assistance from the As- 
sembly, and therefore proposed to petition for it, 
which was done. The country members did not at 
first relish the project ; they objected that it could 
only be serviceable to the city, and therefore the citi- 
zens alone should be at the expense of it ; and they 
doubted whether the citizens themselves generally ap- 
proved of it. My allegation on the contrary, that 



156 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

it met witli such approbation as to leave no doubt of 
our being able to raise two thousand pounds by vol- 
untary donations, they co'^sidered as a most extrava- 
gant supposition, and utterly impossible. 

On this I formed my plan ; and, asking leave to 
bring in a bill for incorporating the contributors ac- 
cording to the prayer of their petition, and granting 
them a blank sum of money, which leave was ob= 
tained chiefly on the consideration that the House 
could throw the bill out if they did not like it, I drew 
it so as to make the important clause a conditional one, 
viz., " And be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, 
that when the said contributors shall have met and 
chosen their managers and treasurer, and shall have 

raised hy their contributions a capital stock of 

value (the yearly interest of which is to be applied to 
the accommodating of the sick poor in the said hos- 
pital, free of charge for diet, attendance, advice, and 
medicines), and shall make the same appear to the 
satisfaction of the speaker of the Assembly for the 
time being^ that then it shall and may be lawful for 
the said speaker, and he is hereby required, to sign 
an order on the provincial treasurer for the payment 
of two thousand pounds, in two yearly payments, to 
the treasurer of the said hospital, to be applied to the 
founding, building, and finishing of the same." 

This condition carried the bill through ; for the 
members who had opposed the grant, and now con- 
ceived they might have the credit of being charitable 
without the expense, agreed to its passage ; and then, 
in soliciting subscriptions among the people, we urged 
the conditional promise of the law as an additional 
motive to give, since every man's donation would be 
doubled ; thus the clause worked both ways. The sul> 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 157 

scriptions accordingly soon exceeded the requisite sum, 
and we claimed and received the public gift, which en- 
abled us to carry the design into execution. A conven- 
ient and handsome building was soon erected ; the in- 
stitution has by constant experience been found useful, 
and flourishes to this day ; and I do not remember 
any of my political manoeuvres, the success of which 
gave me at the time more pleasure, or wherein, after 
thinking of it, I more easily excused myself for having 
made some use of cunning. 

It was about this time that another projector, the 
Rev. Gilbert Tennent, came to me with a request that 
I would assist him in procuring a subscription for 
erecting a new meeting-house. It was to be for the 
use of a congregation he had gathered among the 
Presbyterians, who were originally disciples of Mr. 
Whitefield. Unwilling to make myself disagreeable 
to my fellow-citizens by too frequently soliciting their 
contributions, I absolutely refused. He then desired 
I would furnish him with a list of the names of per- 
sons I knew by experience to be generous and public- 
spirited. I thought it would be unbecoming in me^ 
after their kind compliance with my solicitations, to 
mark them out to be worried by other beggars, and 
therefore refused also to give such a list. He then 
desired I would at least give him my advice. " That 
I will readily do," said I ; " and, in the first place, I 
advise you to apply to all those whom you know will 
give something ; next, to those whom you are uncer- 
tain whether they will give anything or not, and show 
them the list of those who have given ; and, lastly, do 
not neglect those who you are sure will give nothing, 
for in some of them you may be mistaken." He 
laughed and thanked me, and said he would take my 



158 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

advice. He did so, for he asked of everybody^ and lie 
obtained a much larger sum than he expected, with 
which he erected the capacious and very elegant 
meetins-house that stands in Arch Street.^ 

o 

1 The society which was then organized abandoned the " very ele- 
gant meeting-house," which they had once enlarged, in 1837, and 
now have a church on the corner of Twenty-first and Walnut streetSo 



BENJAMIN FRANKJ.IN, 159 



X. 

A PHILADELPHIA CITIZEN". 

Our city, though laid out with a beautiful regu- 
larity, the streets large, straight, and crossing each 
other at right angles, had the disgrace of suffering 
those streets to remain long unpaved, and in wet 
weather the wheels of heavy carriages ploughed them 
into a quagmire, so that it was difficult to cross them ; 
and in dry weather the dust was offensive. I had 
lived near what was called the Jersey Market, and 
saw with pain the inhabitants wading in mud while 
purchasing their provisions. A strip of ground down 
the middle of that market was at length paved with 
brick, so that, being once in the market, they had firm 
footing, but were often over shoes in dirt to get there. 
By talking and writing on the subject, I was at length 
instrumental in getting the street paved with stone be- 
tween the market and the bricked foot pavement, that 
was on each side next the houses. This, for some 
time, gave an easy access to the market dry-shod ; but 
the rest of the street not being paved, whenever a car- 
riage came out of the mud upon this pavement, it 
shook off and left its dirt upon it, and it was soon 
covered with mire, which was not removed, the city as 
yet having no scavengers. 

After some inquiry, I found a poor, industrious 
man, who was willing to undertake keeping the pave- 
ment clean, by sweeping it tv^ice a week, carrying off 



160 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

the dirt from before all the neighbors' doors, for the 
sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each house. 
I then wrote and printed a paper setting forth the ad- 
vantages to the neighborhood that might be obtained 
by this small expense ; the greater ease in keeping 
our houses clean, so much dirt not being brought in 
by people's feet ; the benefit to the shops by more cus- 
tom, etc., etc., as buyers could more easily get at 
them ; and by not having, in windy weather, the dust 
blown in upon their goods, etc., etc. I sent one of 
these papers to each house, and in a day or two went 
round to see who would subscribe an agreement to 
pay these sixpences ; it was unanimously signed, and 
for a time well executed. All the inhabitants of the 
city were delighted with the cleanliness of the pave- 
ment that surrounded the market, it being a conven- 
ience to all, and this raised a general desire to have all 
the streets paved, and made the people more willing 
to submit to a tax for that purpose. 

After some time I drew a bill for paving the city, 
and brought it into the Assembly. It was just before 
I went to England, in 1757, and did not pass till I 
was gone, and then with an alteration in the mode of 
assessment, which I thought not for the better, but 
with an additional provision for lighting as well as 
paving the streets, which was a great improvemento 
It was by a private person, the late Mr. John Clifton, 
his giving a sample of the utility of lamps, by placing 
one at his door, that the people were first impressed 
with the idea of enlighting all the city. The honor 
of this public benefit has also been ascribed to me, but 
it belongs truly to that gentleman. I did but follow 
his example, and have only some merit to claim re- 
specting the form of our lamps, as differing from the 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 161 

globe lamps we were at first supplied with from Lon- 
don. Those we found inconvenient in these respects : 
they admitted no air below ; the smoke, therefore, did 
not readily go out above, but circulated in the globe, 
lodged on its inside, and soon obstructed the light 
they were intended to afford ; giving, besides, the daily 
trouble of wiping them clean ; and an accidental stroke 
on one of them would demolish it and render it totally 
useless. I therefore suggested the composing them of 
four flat panes, with a long funnel above to draw up 
the smoke, and crevices admitting air below, to facili- 
tate the ascent of the smoke ; by this means they were 
kept clean, and did not grow dark in a few hours, as 
the London lamps do, but continued bright till morn- 
ing, and an accidental stroke would generally break 
but a single pane, easily repaired. 

I have sometimes wondered that the Londoners did 
not, from the effect holes in the bottom of the globe 
lamps used at Vauxhall have in keeping them clean, 
learn to have such holes in their street lamps. But, 
these holes being made for another purpose, viz., to 
communicate flame more suddenly to the wick by ^ 
little flax hanging down through them, the other use, 
of letting in air, seems not to have been thought of *, 
and therefore, after the lamps have been lit a few 
hours, the streets of London are very poorly illumi- 
nated. 

The mention of these improvements puts me in mind 
of one I proposed, when in London, to Dr. Fothergill, 
who was among the best men I have known, and a 
great promoter of useful projects. I had observed that 
the streets, when dry, were never swept, and the light 
dust carried away,* but it was suffered to accumu- 
late till wet weather reduced it to mud, and then, after 



162 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

lying some days so deep on the pavement that there 
was no crossing but in paths kept clean by poor people 
with brooms, it was with great labor raked together 
and thrown up into carts open above, the sides of 
which suffered some of the slush at every jolt on the 
pavement to shake out and fall, sometimes to the an- 
noyance of foot-passengers. The reason given for not 
sweeping the dusty streets was, that the dust would 
fly into the windows of shops and houses. 

An accidental occurrence had instructed me how 
much sweeping might be done in a little time. I 
found at my door in Craven Street, one morning, a 
poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch 
broom; she appeared very pale and feeble, as just 
come out of a fit of sickness. I asked who emplo^^ed 
her to sweep there ; she said, " Nobody ; but I am very 
poor and in distress, and I sweeps before gentlefolkses 
doors, and hopes they will give me something." I bid 
her sweep the whole street clean, and I would give her 
a shilling ; this was at nine o'clock ; at twelve she came 
for the shilling. From the slowness I saw at first in 
her working I could scarce believe that the work was 
done so soon, and sent my servant to examine it, who 
reported that the whole street was swept perfectly 
clean, and all the dust placed in the gutter, which was 
in the middle ; and the next rain washed it quite 
away, so that the pavement and even the kennel were 
perfectly clean. 

I then judged that, if that feeble woman could 
sweep such a street in three hours, a strong, active 
man might have done it in half the time. And here 
let me remark the convenience of havinsf but one out- 
ter in such a narrow street, running down its middle, 
instead of two, one on each side, near the footway; 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 163 

for where all the rain that falls on a street runs from 
the sides and meets in the middle, it forms there a 
current strong enough to wash away all the mud it 
meets with ; but when divided into two channels, it is 
often too weak to cleanse either, and only makes the 
mud it finds more fluid, so that the wheels of car- 
riages and feet of horses throw and dash it upon the 
foot-pavement, which is thereby rendered foul and 
slippery, and sometimes splash it upon those who are 
walking. My proposal, communicated to the good 
doctor, was as follows : 

" For the more effectual cleaning and keeping clean 
the streets of London and Westminster, it is proposec( 
that the several watchmen be contracted with to have 
the dust swept up in dry seasons, and the mud raked 
up at other times, each in the several streets and lanev 
of his round ; that they be furnished with brooms and 
other proper instruments for these purposes, to be 
kept at their respective stands, ready to furnish the 
poor people they may employ in the service. 

" That in the dry summer months the dust be all 
swept up into heaps at proper distances, before the 
shops and windows of houses are usually opened, when 
the scavengers, with close-covered carts, shall also 
carry it all away. 

" That the mud, when raked up, be not left in heaps 
to be spread abroad again by the wheels of carriages 
and trampling of horses, but that the scavengers be 
provided with bodies of carts, not placed high upon 
wheels, but low upon sliders with lattice bottoms, 
which, being covered with straw, will retain the mud 
thrown into them, and permit the water to drain from 
it, whereby it will become much lighter, water making 
the greatest part of its weight ; these bodies of carts 



164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

to be placed at convenient distances, and the mud 
brought to them in wheelbarrows ; they remaining 
where placed till the mud is drained, and then horses 
brought to draw them away." 

I have since had doubts of the practicability of the 
latter part of this proposal, on account of the narrow- 
ness of some streets, and the difficulty of placing the 
draining-sleds so as not to encumber too much the pas- 
sage ; but I am still of opinion that the former, re- 
quiring the dust to be swept uj) and carried away 
before the shops are open, is very practicable in the 
summer, when the days are long ; for, in walking 
through the Strand and Fleet Street one morning at 
seven o'clock, I observed there was not one sho]) open, 
though it had been daylight and the sun up above 
three hours ; the inhabitants of London choosing vol- 
untarily to live much by candle-light, and sleep by 
sunshine, and yet often complain, a little absurdly, of 
the duty on candles, and the high price of tallow. 

Some may think these trifling matters not worth 
minding or relating ; but when they consider that 
though dust blown into the eyes of a single person, or 
into a single shop on a windy day, is but of small im- 
portance, yet the great number of the instances in a 
populous city, and its frequent repetitions give it 
weight and consequence, perhaps they will not censure 
very severely those who bestow some attention to af- 
fairs of this seemingly low nature. Human felicity is 
produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune 
that seldom happen, as by little advantages »that occur 
every day. Thus, if you teach a poor young man to 
shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may 
contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giv' 
ing him a thousand guineas. The money may be sood 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 165 

spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly 
consumed it ; but in the other case, he escapes the fre- 
quent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their 
sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull 
razors ; he shaves when most convenient to him, and 
enjoys daily the pleasure of its being done with a good 
instrument. With these sentiments I have hazarded 
the few preceding pages, hoping they may afford hints 
which some time or other may be useful to a city I 
love, having lived many years in it very haj)pily, and 
perhaps to some of our towns in America. 

Having been for some time employed by the post- 
master-general of America as his comptroller in regu- 
lating several offices, and bringing the officers to ac- 
count, I was, upon his death in 1753, appointed, 
jointly with Mr. William Hunter, to succeed him, by 
a commission from the postmaster-general in England. 
The American office never had hitherto paid any- 
thing to that of Britain. We were to have six hun- 
dred pounds a year between us, if we could make 
that sum out of the profits of the office. To do this 
a variety of improvements were necessary; some of 
these were inevitably at first expensive, so that in the 
first four years the office became above nine hundred 
pounds in debt to us. But it soon after began to re- 
pay us ; and before I was dis])laced by a freak of the 
ministers, of which I shall speak hereafter, we had 
brought it to yield three thnes as much clear revenue 
to the crown as the post-office of Ireland. Since that 
imprudent transaction, they have received from it — 
not one farthing I 

The business of the post-office occasioned my taking 
a journey this year to New England, where the Col- 
lege of Cambridge, of their own motion, presented me 



166 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

with the degree of Master of Arts. Yale College, in 
Connecticut, had before made me a similar compli- 
ment. Thus, without studying in any college, I came 
to partake of their honors. They were conferred in 
consideration of my improvements and discoveries in 
the electric branch of natural philosophy. 

In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, 
a congress of commissioners from the different colonies 
was, by an order of the Lords of Trade, to be assem- 
bled at Albany, there to confer with the chiefs of the 
Six Nations concerning the means of defending both 
their country and ours. Governor Hamilton, having 
received this order, acquainted the House with it, re- 
questing they would furnish proper presents for the 
Indians, to be given on this occasion ; and naming 
the speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself to join Mr. 
Thomas Penn and Mr. Secretary Peters as commis- 
sioners to act for Pennsylvania. The House approved 
the nomination, and provided the goods for the pres* 
ent, though they did not much like treating out of 
the provinces ; and we met the other commissioners at 
Albany about the middle of June. 

In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan for 
the union of all the colonies under one government, so 
far as might be necessary for defence and other im- 
portant general purposes. As we passed through New 
York, I had there shown my project to Mr, James 
Alexander and Mr. Kennedy, two gentlemen of great 
knowledge in public affairs, and, being fortified by 
their approbation, I ventured to lay it before the Con- 
gress.. It then appeared that several of the commis- 
sioners had formed plans of the same kind. A pre- 
vious question was first taken, whether a union should 
be established, which passed in the affirmative unani 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 167 

moiisly. A committee was then appointed, one mem«= 
ber from each colony, to consider the several plans, and 
report. Mine happened to be preferred, and, with ?. 
few amendments, was accordingly reported. 

By this plan the general government was to be ad*' 
ministered by a president-general, appointed and sup«i 
ported by the crown, and a grand council was to be 
chosen by the representatives of the people of the 
several colonies, met in their respective assemblies. 
The debates upon it in Congress went on daily, hand 
in hand with the Indian business. Many objections 
and difficulties were started, but at length they were 
all overcome, and the plan was unanimously agreed 
to, and copies ordered to be transmitted to the Board 
of Trade and to the assemblies of the several prov- 
inces. Its fate was singular : the assemblies did not 
adopt it, as they all thought there was too much pre- 
rogative in it, and in England it was judged to have 
too much of the democratic. The Board of Trade 
therefore did not approve of it, nor recommend it for 
the approbation of his majesty; but another scheme 
was formed, supposed to answer the same purpose bet- 
ter, whereby the governors of the provinces, with 
some members of their respective councils, were to 
meet and order the raising of troops, building of fortSj 
etc., and to draw on the treasury of Great Britain for 
the expense, which was afterwards to be refunded by 
an act of Parliament laying a tax on America. My 
plan, with my reasons in support of it, is to be found 
among my political papers that are printed. 

Being the winter following in Boston, I had much 
conversation with Governor Shirley upon both the 
plans. Part of what passed between us on the occa- 
sion may also be seen among those papers. The differ- 



168 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ent and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan makes 
me suspect that it was really the true medium ; and I 
am still of opinion it would have been haj^py for both 
sides the water if it had been adopted. The colonies, 
so united, would have been sufficiently strong to have 
defended themselves ; there would then have been nc 
need of troops from England; of course, the subse- 
quent pretence for taxing America, and the bloody 
ccmtest it occasioned, would have been avoided. But 
such mistakes are not new : history is full of the er- 
rors of states and princes. 

* ' Look round the habitable world, how few 
Know their owng-ood, or, knowing it, pursue ! " 

Those who govern, having much business on their 
hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of con- 
sidering and carrying into execution new projects. 
The best public measures are therefore seldom 
adopted from 'premous 'wisdom^ hut forced by the 
occasion. 

The Governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it down 
to the Assembly, expressed his approbation of the 
plan, " as appearing to him to be drawn up with great 
clearness and strength of judgment, and therefore rec- 
ommended it as well worthy of their closest and most 
serious attention." The House, however, by the man- 
agement of a certain member, took it up when I 
happened to be absent, which I thought not very fair, 
and reprobated it without paying any attention to it 
at all, to my no small mortification. 

In my journey to Boston this year, I met at New 
York with our new governor, Mr. Morris, just arrived 
there from England, with whom I had been before 
intimately acquainted. He brought a commission to 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 169 

supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tired with the disputes 
his proprietary instructions subjected him to, had re- 
signed. Mr. Morris asked me if I thought he must 
expect as uncomfortable an administration. I said, 
" No ; you may, on the contrary, have a very comfort- 
able one, if you will only take care not to enter into 
any dispute with the Assembly." " My dear friend,'' 
says he, pleasantly, " how can you advise my avoiding 
disputes ? You know I love disputing ; it is one of 
my greatest pleasures ; however, to show the regard I 
have for your counsel, I promise you I will, if possible, 
avoid them." He had some reason for loving to dis- 
pute, being eloquent, an acute sophister, and therefore 
generally successful in argumentative conversatiouo 
He had been brought up to it from a boy, his father, as 
I have heard, accustoming his children to dispute with 
one another for his diversion, while sitting at table af- 
ter dinner ; but I think the practice was not wise ; for, 
in the course of my observation, these disputing, con- 
tradicting, and confuting people arc generally unfortu- 
nate in their affairs. They get victory sometimes, but 
they never get good will, which would be of more use 
to them. We parted, he going to Philadelphia, and 
I to Boston. 

In returning, I met at New York with the votes of 
the Assembly, by which it appeared that, notwith- 
standing his promise to me, he and the House were 
already in high contention ; and it was a contin- 
ual battle between them as long as he retained the 
government. I had my share of it ; for, as soon as 
I got back to my seat in the Assembly, I was put or 
every committee for answering his speeches and mes- 
sages, and by the committees always desired to make 
the drafts. Our answers, as well as his messages, 



170 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

were often tart, and sometimes indecently abusive; 
and as he knew. I wrote for the Assembly, one might 
have imagined that, when we met, we could hardly 
avoid cutting throats ; but he was so good-natured a 
man that no personal difference between him and me 
was occasioned by the contest, and we often dined 
together. 

One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, 
we met in the street. " Franklin," says he, " you 
must go home with me and spend the evening ; I am 
to have some company that you will like ; " and taking 
me by the arm, he led me to his house. In gay con- 
versation over our wine, after supper, he told us, jok- 
ingly, that he much admired the idea of Sancho Panza, 
who, when it was proposed to give him a government, 
requested it might be a government of blacks, as then, 
if he could not agree with his people, he might sell 
them. One of his friends, who sat next to me, says, 
" Franklin, why do you continue to side with these 
damned Quakers ? Had you not better sell them ? 
The proprietor would give a good price." " The gov- 
ernor," says I, " has not yet blacked them enough." 
He, indeed, had labored hard to blacken the Assem- 
bly in all his messages, but they wiped oif his coloring 
as fast as he laid it on, and placed it, in return, thick 
upon his own face ; so that, finding he was likely to 
be negrofied himself, he, as well as Mr. Hamilton, 
grew tired of the contest, and quitted the governmento 

These public quarrels were all at bottom owing 
to the proprietaries, our hereditary governors, who, 
when any expense was to be incurred for the de- 
fence of their province, with incredible meanness in- 
structed their deputies to pass no act for levying the 
necessary taxes, unless their vast estates were in the 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 171 

same act expressly excused ; and they had even taken 
bonds of these deputies to observe such instructions. 
The Assemblies for three years held out against this 
injustice, though constrained to bend at last. At 
length Captain Denny, who was Governor Morris's 
successor, ventured to disobey those instructions : how 
that was brought about I shall show hereafter. 

But I am got forward too fast with my story : there 
are still some transactions to be mentioned that hap- 
pened during the administration of Governor Morris. 



172 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



XI. 

IN THE SERVICE OF THE KING. 

War being in a manner commenced with France, 
the government of Massachusetts Bay projected an 
attack upon Crown Point, and sent Mr. Quincy to 
Pennsylvania, and Mr. Pownall, afterward Governor 
Pownall, to New York, to solicit assistance.' As I 
was in the Assembly, knew its temper, and was Mr, 
Quincy's countryman, he applied to me for my influ- 
ence and assistance. I dictated his address to them, 
which was well received. They voted an aid of ten 
thousand pounds, to be laid out in provisions. But 
the governor refusing his assent to their bill (which 
included this with other sums granted for the use of the 
crown), unless a clause were inserted exempting the 
proprietary estate from bearing any part of the tax 
that would be necessary, the Assembly, though very 
desirous of making their grant to New England effect- 
ual, were at a loss how to accomplish it. Mr. Quincy 
labored hard with the governor to obtain his assent y 
but he was obstinate. 

I then suggested a method of doing the business 
without a governor, by orders on the trustees of the 
Loan Office, which, by law, the Assembly had the 
right of drawing. There was, indeed, little or no 
money at that time in the office, and therefore I pro- 
posed that the orders should be payable in a year, and 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 173 

to bear an interest of five per cent. With these orders 
I supposed the provisions might easily be purchased. 
The Assembly, with very little hesitation, adopted the 
proposal. The orders were immediately printed, and 
I was one of the committee directed to sign and dispose 
of them. The fund for paying them was the interest of 
all the paper currency then extant in the province up= 
on loan, together with the revenue arising from the ex- 
cise, which being known to be more than sufficient, they 
obtained instant credit, and were not only received in 
payment for the provisions, but many moneyed people, 
who had cash lying by them, vested it in those orders, 
which they found advantageous, as they bore interest 
while upon hand, and might on any occasion be used 
as money, so that they were eagerly all bought up, 
and in a few weeks none of them were to be seen. 
Thus this important affair was by my means com- 
pleted. Mr. Quincy returned thanks to the As- 
sembly in a handsome memorial, went home highly 
pleased with the success of his embassy, and ever after 
bore for me the most cordial and affectionate friendship. 
The British government, not choosing to permit the 
union of the colonies as proposed at Albany, and to 
trust that union with their defence, lest they should 
thereby grow too military and feel their own strength, 
suspicions and jealousies at this time being entertained 
of them, sent over General Braddock with two regi- 
ments of regular English troops for that purpose. He 
landed at Alexandria, in Virginia, and thence marched 
to Fredericktown, in Maryland, where he halted for 
carriages. Our Assembly apprehending, from some in- 
formation, that he had conceived violent prejudices 
against them, as averse to the service, wished me to 
wait upon him, not as from them, but as postmaster* 



174 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

general, under the guise of proposing to settle with 
him the mode of conducting with most celerity and 
certainty the despatches between him and the govern- 
ors of the several j^rovinces, with whom he must neces- 
sarily have continual correspondence, and of which 
they proposed to pay the expense. My son accompa- 
nied me on this journey. 

We found the general at Fredericktown, waiting im- 
patiently for the return of those he had sent through the 
back parts of Maryland and Virginia to collect wagons. 
I stayed with him several days, dined with him daily, 
and had full opportunity of removing all his preju- 
dices, by the information of what the Assembly had 
before his arrival actually done, and were still willing 
to do, to facilitate his operations. When I was about 
to depart, the returns of wagons to be obtained were 
brought in, by which it appeared that they amounted 
only to twenty-five, and not all of those were in ser- 
viceable condition. The general and all the officers 
were surprised, declared the expedition was then at an 
end, being impossible, and exclaimed against the min- 
isters for ignorantly landing them in a country desti- 
tute of the means of conveying their stores, baggage, 
etc., not less than one hundred and fifty wagons being 
necessary. 

I happened to say I thought it was a pity they had 
not been landed rather in Pennsylvania, as in that 
country almost every farmer had his wagon. The 
general eagerly laid hold of my words, and said, 
" Then you, sir, who are a man of interest there, can 
probably procure them for us ; and I beg you will un- 
dertake it." I asked what terms were to be offered 
the owners of the wagons ; and I was desired to put 
on paper the terms that appeared to me necessary. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 175 

This I did, and they were agreed to, and a commission 
and instructions accordingly prepared immediately. 
What those terms were will ai3pear in the advertise- 
ment I published as soon as I arrived at Lancaster, 
which being, from the great and sudden effect it pro- 
duced, a piece of some curiosity, I shall insert it at 
length, as follows : 

" ADVERTISEMENT. 

" Lancaster, April 26, 1755. 
" Whereas, one hundred and fifty wagons, with four 
horses to each wagon, and fifteen hundred saddle or 
pack horses, are wanted for the service of his majes- 
ty's forces now about to rendezvous at Will's Creek, 
and his excellency General Braddock having been 
pleased to empower me to contract for the hire of the 
same, I hereby give notice that I shall attend for that 
purpose at Lancaster from this day to next Wednes- 
day evening, and at York from next Thursday morn- 
ing till Friday evening, where I shall be ready to 
agree for wagons and teams, or single horses, on the 
following terms, viz. : 1. That there shall be paid for 
each wagon, with four good horses and a driver, fif- 
teen shillings per diem ; and for each able horse with 
a pack-saddle or other saddle and furniture, two shil- 
lings per diem ; and for each able horse without a sad- 
dle, eighteen pence per diem. 2. That the pay com- 
mence from the time of their joining the forces at 
Will's Creek, which must be on or before the 20th of 
May ensuing, and that a reasonable allowance be paid 
over and above for the time necessary for their travel- 
ling to Will's Creek and home again after their dis- 
charge. 3. Each wagon and team, and every saddle 
or pack horse, is to be valued by indifferent persons 



176 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

chosen between me and the owner ; and in case of the 
loss of any wagon, team, or other horse in the service, 
the price according to such vakiation is to be allowed 
and paid. 4. Seven days' pay is to be advanced and 
paid in hand by me to the owner of each wagon and 
team or horse, at the time of contracting, if required, 
and the remainder to be paid by General Braddock. 
or by the paymaster of the army, at the time of their dis- 
charge, or from time to time, as it shall be demanded, 
5. No drivers of wagons, or persons taking care of the 
hired horses, are on any account to be called upon to 
do the duty of soldiers, or be otherwise employed than 
in conducting or taking care of their carriages or 
horses. 6. All oats, Indian corn, or other forage that 
wagons or horses bring to the camp, more than is ne- 
cessary for the subsistence of the horses, is to be taken 
for the use of the army, and a reasonable price paid 
for the same. 

" Note. — My son, William Franklin, is empowered 
to enter into like contracts with any person in Cum- 
berland county. B. Franklin." 

" To the Inliahitants of the Counties of Lancaster^ 
York, and Cumberland. 

" Friends and Countrymen : 

" Being occasionally at the camp at Frederick a few 
days since, I found the general and officers extremely 
exasperated on account of their not being supplied 
with horses and carriages, which had been expected 
from this province, as most able to furnish them ; but, 
through the dissensions between our governor and As- 
sembly, money had not been provided, nor any steps 
taken for that purpose. 

" It was proposed to send an armed force immedi 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Ill 

ately into these counties, to seize as many of the best 
carriages and horses as should be wanted, and compel 
as many persons into the service as would be neces- 
sary to drive and take care of them. 

" I apprehended that the progress of British sol= 
diers through these counties on such an occasion, 
especially considering the temper they are in, aud their 
resentment against us, would be attended with many 
and great inconveniences to the inhabitants, and there- 
fore more willingly took the trouble of trying first 
what might be done by fair and equitable means. The 
people of these back counties have lately complained 
to the Assembly that a sufficient currency was want- 
ing ; you have an opportunity of receiving and divid- 
ing among you a very considerable sum ; for, if the 
service of this expedition should continue, as it is more 
than probable it will, for one hundred and twenty 
days, the hire of these wagons and horses will 
amount to upward of thirty thousand pounds, which 
will be paid you in silver and gold of the king's 
money. 

"The service will be light and easy, for the army 
will scarce march above twelve miles per day, and the 
wagons and baggage-horses, as they carry those 
things that are absolutely necessary to the welfare of 
the army, must march with the army, and no faster ; 
and are, for the army's sake, always placed where they 
can be most secure, whether in a march or in a camp. 

" If you are really, as I believe you are, good and 
loyal subjects to his majesty, you may now do a most 
acceptable service, and make it easy to yourselves ; for 
three or four of such as can not sej)arately spare from 
the business of their plantations a wagon and four 
horses and a driver, may do it together, one furnish- 



178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing the wagon, another one or two horses, and another 
the driver, and divide the pay proportionably between 
you ; but if you do not this service to your king and 
country voluntarily, when such good pay and reasons- 
able terms are offered to you, your loyalty will be 
strongly suspected. The king's business must be 
done ; so many brave troops, come so far for your de° 
fence, must not stand idle through your backwardness 
to do what may be reasonably expected from you ; 
wagons and horses must be had ; violent measures 
will probably be used, and you will be left to seek for 
a recompense where you can find it, and your case, 
perhaps, be little pitied or regarded. 

" I have no particular interest in this affair, as, 
except the satisfaction of endeavoring to do good, 1 
shall have only my labor for my pains. If this method 
of obtaining the wagons and horses is not likely to 
succeed, I am obliged ^ to send word to the general in 
fourteen days ; and I suppose Sir John St. Clair, the 
hussar, with a body of soldiers, will immediately enter 
the province for the purpose, which I shall be sorry to 
hear, because I am very sincerely and truly your friend 
and well-wisher, 

" B. Franklin." 

I received of the general about eight hundred 
pounds, to be disbursed in advance-money to the 
wagon owners, etc. ; but that sum being insufficient, I 
advanced upward of two hundred pounds more, and in 
two weeks the one hundred and fifty wagons, with 
two hundred and fifty-nine carrying horses, were on 
their march for the camp. The advertisement prom- 
ised payment according to the valuation, in case any 
wagon or horse should be lost. The owners, how 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 179 

ever, alleging they did not know General Braddock, 
or what dependence might be had on his promise, in- 
sisted on my bond for the performance, which I accord- 
ingly gave them. 

While I was at the camp, supping one evening witti 
the officers of Colonel Dunbar's regiment, he repre= 
sented to me his concern for the subalterns, who, he 
said, were generally not in affluence, and could ill 
afford, in this dear country, to lay in the stores that 
might be necessary in so long a march, through a wilder- 
ness, where nothing was to be purchased. I commis- 
erated their case, and resolved to endeavor procuring 
them some relief. I said nothing, however, to him of 
my intention, but wrote the next morning to the com- 
mittee of the Assembly, who had the disposition of 
some public money, warmly recommending the case 
of these officers to their consideration, and proposing 
that a present should be sent them of necessaries and 
refreshments. My son, who had some experience of a 
camp life, and of its wants, drew up a list for me, 
which I enclosed in my letter. The committee ap- 
proved, and used such diligence that, conducted by 
my son, the stores arrived at the camp as soon as the 
wagons. They consisted of twenty parcels, each con- 
taining — 

6 lbs. loaf sugar. 1 Gloucester cheese. 

6 lbs. g-ood Muscovado do. 1 keg containing 20 lbs. good but- 
1 lb, good green tea. ter. 

1 lb. good bohea do. 2 doz. old Madeira wine. 

6 lbs. good ground coffee. 2 gallons Jamaica si^irits. 

6 lbs. chocolate. 1 bottle flour of mustard. 

1-2 cwt. best white biscuit, 2 well-cured hams, 

1-2 lb. pepper. 1-2 dozen dried tongues. 

1 quart best white wine vine- 6 lbs. rice, 

gar. 6' lt)s. raisins. 



180 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

These twenty parcels, well packed, were placed on 
as many horses, each parcel, with the horse, being in- 
tended as a present for one officer. They were very 
thankfully received, and the kindness acknowledged 
by letters to me from the colonels of both regiments, 
in the most grateful terms. The general, too, was 
highly satisfied with my conduct in procuring him the 
wagons, etc., and readily paid my account of dis- 
bursements, thanking me repeatedly, and requesting 
my farther assistance in sending provisions after him. 
I undertook this also, and was busily emj^loyed in it 
till we heard of his defeat, advancing for the service 
of my own money upwards of one thousand pounds 
sterling, of which I sent him an account. It came 
to his hands, luckily for me, a few days before the 
battle, and he returned me immediately an order on 
the paymaster for the round sum of one thousand 
pounds, leaving the remainder to the next account. 
I consider this payment as good luck, having never 
been able to obtain that remainder, of which more 
hereafter. 

This general was, I think, a brave man, and might 
probably have made a figure as a good officer in some 
European war. But he had too much self-confidence, 
too high an opinion of the validity of regular troops, 
and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. 
George Croghan, our Indian interpreter, joined him 
on his march with one hundred of those people, who 
might have been of great use to his army as guides, 
scouts, etc., if he had treated them kindly ; but he 
slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left 
him. 

In conversation with him one day, he was giving me 
some account of his intended progress. " After tak- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 181 

ing Fort Duquesne," ^ says he, " I am to proceed to 
Niagara ; and, having taken that, to Frontenac, if the 
season will allow time ; and I suppose it will, for Du- 
quesne can hardly detain me above three or four days | 
and then I see nothing that can obstruct my march to 
Niagara." Having before revolved in my mind the 
long line his army must make in their march by a very 
narrow road, to be cut for them through the woods 
and bushes, and also what I had read of a former de- 
feat of fifteen hundred French, who invaded the Iro- 
quois country, I had conceived some doubts and some 
fears for the event of the campaign. But I ventured 
only to say, "To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before 
Duquesne, with these fine troops, so well provided 
with artillery, that place not yet completely fortified, 
and as we hear with no very strong garrison, can prob- 
ably make but a short resistance. The only danger I 
apprehend of obstruction to your march is from am- 
buscades of Indians, who, by constant practice, are 
dexterous in laying and executing them ; and the slen- 
der line, near four miles long, which your army must 
make, may expose it to be attacked by surprise in its 
flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several pieces, 
which, from their distance, can not come up in time 
to support each other." 

He smiled at my ignorance, and replied, " These 
savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your 
raw American militia, but upon the king's regular and 
disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should 
make any impression." I was conscious of an impro- 
priety in my disputing with a military man in mat- 

^ Fort Duquesne stood where is now the city of Pittsburg. Wash- 
ington, it will be remembered, was an aid-de-camp of General Brad- 
dock and gave him the same advice regarding Indian warfare that 
Franklin did. 



182 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ters o£ his profession, and said no more. The enemy, 
however, did not take the advantage of his army which 
I apprehended its long line of march exposed it to, 
but let it advance without interruption till within nine 
miles of the place ; and then, when more in a body 
(for it had just passed a river, where the front had 
halted till all were come over), and in a more open 
part of the woods than any it had passed, attacked its 
advanced guard by a heavy fire from behind trees and 
bushes, which was the first intelligence the general 
had of an enemy's being near him. This guard being 
disordered, the general hurried the troops up to their 
assistance, which was done in great confusion, through 
wagons, baggage, and cattle ; and presently the fire 
came upon their flank : the officers, being on horse- 
back, were more easily distinguished, picked out as 
marks, and fell very fast ; and the soldiers were 
crowded together in a huddle, having or hearing no 
orders, and standing to be shot at till two-thirds of 
them were killed ; and then, being seized with a panic, 
the whole fled with precipitation. 

The wagoners took each a horse out of his team 
and scampered; their example was immediately fol- 
lowed by others ; so that all the wagons, provisions, 
artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The gen- 
eral, being wounded, was brought off with difficulty ; 
his secretary, Mr. Shirley, was killed by his side ; ' and 
out of eighty-six officers, sixty-three were killed or 
wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen men killed 
out of eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had 
been picked men from the whole army ; the rest had 
been left behind with Colonel Dunbar, who was to 
follow with the heavier part of the stores, provisions, 
and baggage. The flyers, not being pursued, arrived 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 183 

at Dunbar's camp, and the panic they brought with 
them instantly seized him and all his people; and, 
though he had now above one thousand men, and the 
enemy who had beaten Braddock did not at most ex- 
ceed four hundred Indians and French together, in- 
stead of proceeding, and endeavoring to recover some 
of the lost honor, he ordered all the stores, ammuni- 
tion, etc., to be destroyed, that he might have more 
horses to assist his flight towards the settlements, and 
less lumber to remove. He was there met with re- 
quests from the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on the 
frontiers, so as to afford some protection to the inhab- 
itants ; but he continued his hasty march through all 
the country, not thinking himself safe till he arrived 
at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants could protect 
him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the 
first suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of 
British regulars had not been well founded. 

In their first march, too, from their landing till they 
got beyond the settlements, they had plundered and 
stripped the inhabitants, totally ruining some poor 
families, besides insulting, abusing, and confining the 
people if they remonstrated. This was enough to put 
us out of conceit of such defenders, if we had reaUy 
wanted any. How different was the conduct of our 
French friends in 1781, who, during a march through 
the most inhabited part of our country from Rhode 
Island to Virginia, near seven hundred miles, occa^ 
sioned not the smallest complaint for the loss of a pig, 
a chicken, or even an apple. 

Captain Orme, who was one of the general's aides- 
de-camp, and, being grievously wounded, was brought 
off with him, and continued with him to his death, 



184 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

which happened in a few days, told me that he was 
totally silent all day, and at night only said, " Who 
would have thought it ? " That he was silent again 
the following day, saying only at last, " T'Fe shall 
better know how to deal %oith them another time ; " 
and died in a few minutes after. 

The secretary's papers, with all the general's orders, 
instructions, and correspondence, falling into the ene- 
my's hands, they selected and translated into French 
a number of the articles, which they printed, to prove 
the hostile intentions of the British court before the 
declaration of war. Among these I saw some letters 
of the general to the ministry, speaking highly of the 
great service 1 had rendered the army, and recom- 
mending me to their notice. David Hume, too, who 
was some years after secretary to Lord Hertford, 
when minister in France, and afterward to General 
Conway, when secretary of state, told me he had seen 
among the papers in that office, letters from Braddock 
highly recommending me. But the expedition having 
been unfortunate, my service, it seems, was not 
thought of much value, for those recommendations 
were never of any use to me. 

As to rewards from himself, I asked only one, which 
was that he would give orders to his officers not to 
enlist any more of our bought servants, and that he 
would discharge such as had been already enlisted. 
This he readily granted, and several were accordingly 
returned to their masters, on tny application. Dun- 
bar, when the command devolved on him, was not so 
generous. He being at Philadelphia, on his retreat 
or rather flight, I applied to him for the discharge of 
the servants of three poor farmers of Lancaster county 
that he had enlisted, reminding him of the late gea 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 185 

eral's orders on that head. He promised me that, if 
the masters would icome to him at Trenton, where he 
should be in a few days on his march to New York, he 
would there deliver their men to them. They accord- 
ingly were at the expense and trouble of going to 
Trenton, and there he refused to perform his promise, 
to their great loss and disappointment. 

As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was 
generally known, all the owners came upon me for the 
valuation which I had given bond to pay. Their de- 
mands gave me a great deal of trouble, my acquaint- 
ing them that the money was ready in the paymaster's 
hands, but that orders for paying it must first be ob- 
tained from General Shirley, and my assuring them 
that I had applied to that general by letter, but he 
being at a distance, an answer could not soon be re- 
ceived, and they must have patience ; all this was not 
sufficient to satisfy, and some began to sue me. Gen- 
eral Shirley at length relieved me from this terrible 
situation by appointing commissioners to examine the 
claims, and ordering payment. They amounted to 
near twenty thousand pound, which to pay would have 
ruined me. 

Before we had the news of this defeat, the two Doc- 
tors Bond came to me with a subscription paper for 
raising money to defray the expense of a grand fire- 
work, which it was intended to exliibit at a rejoicing 
on receipt of the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. 
I looked grave, and said it would, I thought, be time 
enough to prepare for the rejoicing when we knew we 
should have occasion to rejoice. They seemed sur- 
prised that I did not immediately comply with their 
proposal. " Why . . . ! " says one of them, " you 
surely don't suppose that the fort will not be taken ? " 



186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

" I don't know that it will not be taken, but I know 
that the events of war are subject to great uncer- 
tainty." I gave tbem the reasons of my doubting; 
the subscription was dropped, and the projectors 
thereby missed the mortification they would have un- 
dergone if the firework had been prepared. Dr. Bond, 
on some other occasion afterward, said that he did not 
like Franklin's forebodings. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 187 



XII. 

COMMON-SENSE IN WAE MATTERS. 

Governor Morris, who had continually worried 
the Assembly with message after message before the 
defeat of Braddock, to beat them into the making of 
acts to raise money for the defence of the province 
without taxing, among others, the proprietary estates, 
and had rejected all their bills for not having such 
an exempting clause, now redoubled his attacks with 
more hope of success, the danger and necessity being 
greater. The Assembly, however, continued firm, be- 
lieving they had justice on their side, and that it 
would be giving up an essential right if they suffered 
the governor to amend their money-bills. In one of 
the last, indeed, which was for granting fifty thousand 
pounds, his proposed amendment was only of a single 
word. The bill expressed " that all estates, real and 
personal, were to be taxed, those of the proprietaries 
not excepted." His amendment was, for not read 
only : a small but very material alteration. However^ 
when the news of this disaster reached England, our 
friends there, whom we had taken care to furnish with 
all the Assembly's answers to the governor's messages, 
raised a clamor against the proprietaries for their 
meanness and injustice in giving their governor such 
instructions ; some going so far as to say that by ob- 
structing the defence of their province they forfeited 



188 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

their right to it. They were intimidated by this, and 
sent orders to their receiver-general to add five thou- 
sand pounds of their moirpy to whatever sum might be 
given by the Assembly for such purpose. 

This, being notified to the House, was accepted in 
lieu of their share of a general tax, and a new bill 
was formed, with an exempting clause, which passed 
accordingly. By this act I was appointed one of the 
commissioners for disposing of the money, sixty thou- 
sand pounds. I had been active in modelling the bill 
and procuring its passage, and had, at the same time, 
drawn a bill for establishing and disciplining a volun- 
tary militia, which I carried through the House with- 
out much difficulty, as care was taken in it to leave 
the Quakers at their liberty. To promote the associ- 
ation necessary to form the militia, I wrote a dialogue, 
stating and answering all the objections I could think 
of to such a militia, which was printed, and had, as I 
thought, great effect. 

While the several companies in the city and coun- 
try were forming, and learning their exercise, the gov- 
ernor prevailed with me to take charge of our North- 
western frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and 
provide for the defence of the inhabitants by raising 
troops and building a line of forts. I undertook this 
military business, though I did not conceive myself 
well qualified for it. He gave me a commission with 
full powers, and a parcel of blank commissions for 
officers, to be o^iven to whom I thought fit. I had but 
little difficulty in raising men, having soon filve hun- 
dred and sixty under my command. My son, who had 
in the preceding war been an officer in the army raised 
against Canada, was my aide-de-camp, and of great 
use to me. The Indians had burned Gnadenhut, a 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 189 

village settled by the Moravians, and massacred the in- 
habitants ; but the place was thought a good situation 
for one of the forts. 

In order to march thither, I assembled the compa- 
nies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those 
people, I was surprised to find it in so good a pos- 
ture of defence ; the destruction of Gnadenhut had 
made them apprehend danger. The principal build- 
ings were defended by a stockade ; they had purchased 
a quantity of arms and ammunition from New York, 
and had even placed quantities of small paving stones 
between the windows of their high stone houses for 
their women to throw down upon the heads of any In- 
dians that should attempt to force into them. The 
armed brethren, too, kept watch, and relieved as me- 
thodically as any garrison town. In conversation with 
the bishop, Spangenberg, I mentioned this my sur- 
prise ; for, knowing they had obtained an act of Par- 
liament exempting them from military duties in the 
colonies, I had supposed they were conscientiously 
scrupulous of bearing arms. He answered me that it 
was not one of their established principles, but that, 
at the time of their obtaining that act, it was thought 
to be a principle with many of their people. On this 
occasion, however, they, to their surprise, found it 
adopted by but a few. It seems they were either de- 
ceived in themselves or deceived the Parliament; but 
common sense, aided by present danger, will some- 
times be too strong for whimsical opinions. 

It was the beginning of January when we set out 
upon this business of building forts. I sent one de- 
tachment toward the Minisink, with instructions to 
erect one for the security of that upper part of the 
country, and another to the lower part, with similar in- 



190 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

structions ; and I concluded to go myself with the rest 
of my force to Gnadenhut, where a fort was thought 
more immediately necessary. The Moravians 23rocured 
me five wagons for our tools, stores, baggage, etc. 

Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, whc 
had been driven from their plantations by the Indians^ 
came to me requesting a supply of firearms, that they 
might go back and fetch off their cattle. I gave them 
each a gun with suitable ammunition. We had not 
marched many miles before it began to rain, and it con- 
tinued raining all day ; there were no habitations on 
the road to shelter us, till we arrived near night at the 
house of a German, where, and in his barn, we were 
all huddled together, as wet as water could make us. 
It was well we were not attacked in our march, for our 
arms were of the most ordinary sort, and our men could 
not keep their gunlocks dry. The Indians are dex- 
terous in contrivances for that purpose, which we had 
not. They met that day the eleven poor farmers above 
mentioned, and killed ten of them. The one who es- 
caped informed that his and his companions' guns 
would not go off, the priming being wet with the rain. 

The next day being fair, we continued our march 
and arrived at the desolated Gnadenhut. 

There was a saw-mill near, round which were left 
several piles of boards, with which we soon hutted our« 
selves ; an operation the more necessary at that in= 
clement season as we had no tents. Our first work was 
to bury more effectually the dead we found there, who 
had been half interred by the country people. 

The next morning our fort was planned and marked 
out, the circumference measuring four hundred and 
fifty-five feet, which would require as many palisades 
to be made of trees, one with another, of a foot diametei 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 191 

each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, were immedi- 
ately set to work to cut down trees, and, our men being 
dexterous in the use of them, great dispatch was made. 
Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look 
at my watch when two men began to cut at a pine ; in 
six minutes they had it upon the ground, and I found it 
of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine made three 
palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. 
While these were preparing, our other men dug a 
trench all round, of three feet deep, in which the pali- 
sades were to be planted ; and our wagons, the bodies 
being taken off, and the fore and hind wheels separated 
by taking out the pin which united the two parts of 
the perch, we had ten carriages, with two horses each, 
to bring the palisades from the woods to the spot. 
When they were set up, our carpenters built a stage of 
boards all round within, about six feet high, for the 
men to stand on when to fire through the loopholes. 
We had one swivel gun, which we mounted on one of 
the angles, and fired it as soon as fixed, to let the In- 
dians know, if any were within hearing, that we had 
such pieces ; and thus our fort, if such a magnificent 
name may be given to so miserable a stockade, was 
finished in a week, though it rained so hard every 
other day that the men could not work. 

This gave me occasion to observe, that when men 
are employed they are best contented ; for on the 
days they worked they were good-natured and cheerful, 
and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's 
work, they spent the evening jollily ; but on our idle 
days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding 
fault with their pork, the bread, etc., and in contin- 
ual ill-humor, which put me in mind of a sea-captain, 
whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work f 



192 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

and when liis mate once told him that they had done 
everything, and there was nothing further to employ 
them about, " OJi^^^ says he, '''"make them scour the 
anchor. ''^ 

This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a suffi- 
cient defence against Indians, who have no cannon. 
Finding ourselves now posted securely, and having a 
place to retreat to on occasion, we ventured out in 
parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with 
no Indians, but we found the places on the neighbor- 
ing hills where they had lain to watch our proceedings. 
There was an art in their contrivance of those places 
that seems worth mention. It being winter, a fire was 
necessary for them ; but a common fire on the sur- 
face of the ground would by its light have discovered i 
their position at a distance. They had therefore dug 
holes in the ground about three feet diameter and 
somewhat deeper ; we saw where they had with their 
hatchets cut off the charcoal from the sides of burnt 
logs lying in the woods. With these coals they had 
made small fires in the bottom of the holes, and we ob- 
served among the weeds and grass the prints of their 
bodies, made by their lying all round, with their legs 
hanging down in the holes to keep their feet warm, 
which with them is an essential point. This kind of 
fire, so managed, could not discover them, either by its 
light, flame, sparks, or even smoke : it appeared that 
their number was not great, and it seems they saw we 
were too many to be attacked by them with prospect 
of advantage. 

We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian 
minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the 
men did not generally attend his prayers and exhorta- 
tions. When they enlisted, they were promised, be- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 193 

sides pay and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which 
was punctually served out to them, half in the morn- 
ing and the other half in the evening ; and I observed 
they were as punctual in attending to receive it ; upon 
which I said to Mr. Beatty, " It is, perhaps, below the 
dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum, 
but if you were to deal it out and only just after 
prayers, you would have them all about you." He 
liked the thought, undertook the office, and, with the 
help of a few hands to measure out the liquor, executed 
it to satisfaction, and never were prayers more gen- 
erally and more punctually attended ; so that I thought 
this method preferable to the punishment inflicted by 
some military laws for non-attendance on divine service. 
I had hardly finished this business, and got my fort 
well stored with provisions, when I received a letter 
from the governor, acquainting me that he had called 
the Assembly, and wished my attendance there, if the 
posture of affairs on the frontiers was such that my re- 
maining there was no longer necessary. My friends, 
too, of the Assembly, pressing me by their letters to 
be, if possible, at the meeting, and my three intended 
forts being now completed, and the inhabitants con- 
tented to remain on their farms under that protection, 
I resolved to return ; the more willingly, as a New 
England officer. Colonel Clapham, experienced in 
Indian war, being on a visit to our establishment, 
consented to accept the command. I gave him a com- 
mission, and, parading the garrison, had it read before 
them, and introduced him to them as an officer who, 
from his skill in military affairs, was much more fit to 
command them than myself ; and, giving them a little 
exhortation, took my leave. I was escorted as far as 
Bethlehem, where I rested a few days to recover from 



194 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

the fatigue I had undergone. The first night, being 
in a good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so different 
from my hard lodging on the floor of our hut at Gna- 
den, wrapped only in a blanket or two. 

While at Bethlehem, I inquired a little into the 
practice of the Moravians : some of them had accom° 
panied me, and all were very kind to me. I found 
they worked for a common stock, eat at common tables, 
and slept in common dormitories, great numbers to- 
gether. In the dormitories I observed loopholes, at 
certain distances all along just under the ceiling, which 
I thought judiciously placed for change of air. I 
was at their church, where I was entertained with 
good music, the organ being accompanied with violins, 
hautboys, flutes, clarinets, etc. I understood that 
their sermons were not usually preached to mixed con- 
gregations of men, women, and children, as is our com- 
mon practice, but that they assembled sometimes the 
married men, at other times their wives, then the 
young men, the young women, and the little children, 
each division by itself. The sermon I heard was to 
the latter, who came in and were placed in rows on 
benches ; the boys under the conduct of a young man, 
their tutor, and the girls conducted by a young woman. 
The discourse seemed well adapted to their capacities, 
and was delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, 
coaxing them, as it were, to be good. They behaved 
very orderly, but looked pale and unhealthy, which 
made me suspect they were kept too much within 
doors, or not allowed sufficient exercise. 

I inquired concerning the Moravian marriages, 
whether the report was true that they were by lot. 1 
was told that lots were used only in particular cases, 
that generally, when a young man found himself di» 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 195 

posed to marry, he informed the elders of his class, 
who consulted the elder ladies that governed the young 
women. As these elders of the different sexes were 
well acquainted with the tempers and dispositions of 
their respective pupils, they could best judge what 
matches were suitable, and their judgments were gen- 
erally acquiesced in ; but if, for example, it should 
happen that two or three young women were found to 
be equally proper for the young man, the lot was then 
recurred to. I objected, if the matches are not made 
by the mutual choice of parties, some of them may 
chance to be very unhappy. " And so they may," 
answered my informer, " if you let the parties choose 
for themselves ; " which, indeed, I could not deny. 

Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the associa- 
tion went on swimmingly, the inhabitants that were 
not Quakers having pretty generally come into it, 
formed themselves into companies, and chose their cap- 
tains, lieutenants, and ensigns, according to the new 
law. Dr. B. visited me, and gave me an account of 
the pains he had taken to spread a general good liking 
to the law, and ascribed much to those endeavors. I 
had had the vanity to ascribe all to my Dialogue-, 
however, not knowing but that he might be in the 
right, I let him enjoy his opinion, which I take to be 
generally the best way in such cases. The officers, 
meeting, chose me to be colonel of the regiment, which 
I this time accepted. I forget how many companies 
we had, but we paraded about twelve hundred well- 
looking men, with a company of artillery, who had 
been furnished with six brass field-pieces, which they 
had become so expert in the use of as to fire twelve 
times in a minute. The first time I reviewed my regi= 
ment they accompanied me to my house, and would 



196 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

salute me with some rounds Hred before my door, 
which shook down and broke several glasses of my elec- 
trical apparatus. And my new honor proved not much 
less brittle ; for all our commissions were soon after 
broken by a repeal of the law in England. 

During this short time of my colonelship, being 
about to set out on a journey to Virginia, the officers 
of my regiment took it into their heads that it would 
be proper for them to escort me out of town, as far as 
the Lower Ferry. Just as I was getting on horse- 
back they came to my door, between thirty and forty, 
mounted, and all in their uniforms. I had not been 
previously acquainted with the project, or I should 
have prevented it, being naturally averse to the as- 
suming of state on any occasion ; and I was a good 
deal chagrined at their appearance, as I could not 
avoid their accompanying me. What made it worse 
was, that, as soon as we began to move, they drew 
their swords and rode with them naked all the way. 
Somebody wrote an account of this to the proprietor, 
and it gave him great offence. No such honor had 
been paid him when in the province, nor to any of his 
governors ; and he said it was only proper to princes 
of the blood royal, which may be true for aught I 
know, who was, and still am, ignorant of the etiquette 
in such cases. 

This silly affair, however, greatly increased his 
rancor against me, which was before not a little, on 
account of my conduct in the Assembly respecting the 
exemption of his estate from taxation, which I had al- 
ways opposed very warmly, and not without severe re. 
flections on his meanness and injustice of contending 
for it. He accused me to the ministry as, being the 
great obstacle to the king's service, preventing, by my 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 197 

influence in the House, the proper form of the bills 
for raising money, and he instanced this parade with 
my officers as a proof of my having an intention to 
take the government of the province out of his hands 
by force. He also applied to Sir Everard Fawkener, 
the postmaster-general, to deprive me of my office; 
but it had no other effect than to procure from Sir 
Everard a gentle admonition. 

Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between the 
governor and the House, in which I, as a member, had 
so large a share, there still subsisted a civil intercourse 
between that gentleman and myself, and we never had 
any personal difference. I have sometimes since 
thought that his little or no resentment against me, 
for the answers it was known I drew up to his mes- 
sages, might be the effect of professional habit, and 
that, being bred a lawyer, he might consider us both 
as merely advocates for contending clients in a suit, 
he for the proprietaries and I for the Assembly. He 
would, therefore, sometimes call in a friendly way to 
advise with me on difficult points, and sometimes, 
though not often, take my advicec 

We acted in concert to supply Braddock's army 
with provisions ; and when the shocking news arrived 
of his defeat, the governor sent in haste for me to con- 
sult with him on measures for preventing the deser- 
tion of the back counties. I forget now the advice I 
gave ; but I think it was, that Dunbar should be writ- 
ten to, and prevailed with, if possible, to post his 
troops on the frontiers for their protection, till, by re- 
enforcements from the colonies, he might be able to 
proceed on the expedition. And, after my return 
from the frontier, he would have had me undertake 
the conduct of such an expedition with provincial 



198 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 

troops, for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, Dunbar 
and his men being otherwise employed ; and he pro- 
posed to commission me as general. I had not so 
good an opinion of my military abilities as he pro- 
fessed to have, and I believe his professions must have 
exceeded his real sentiments ; but probably he might 
think that my popularity would facilitate the raising 
of the men, and my influence in Assembly, the grant 
of money to pay them, and that, perhaps, without taxing 
the proprietary estate. Finding me not so forward 
to engage as he expected, the project was dropped, and 
he sooh after left the government, being superseded by 
Captain Denny. 

Before I proceed in relating the part I had in pub- 
lic affairs under this new governor's administration, it 
may not be amiss here to give some account of the 
rise and progress of my philosophical reputation. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 199 



XIII. 

FRANKLIN THE PHILOSOPHER. 

In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with a Dr. 
Spence, who was lately arrived from Scotland, and 
showed me some electric experiments. They were 
imperfectly performed, as he was not very expert; 
but, being on a subject quite new to me, they equally 
surprised and pleased me. Soon after my return to 
Philadelphia, our library company received from Mr. 
P. Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, 
a present of a glass tube, with some account of the use 
of it in making such experiments. I eagerly seized 
the opportunity of repeating what I had seen at Bos- 
ton ; and, by much practice, acquired great readiness 
in performing those, also, which we had an account of 
from England, adding a number of new ones. I say 
much practice, for my house was continually full, for 
some time, with people who came to see these new 
wonders. 

To divide a little this incumbrance among my 
friends, I caused a number of similar tubes to be 
blown at our glass-house, with which they furnished 
themselves, so that we had at length several perform- 
ers. Among these, the principal was Mr. Kinnersley, 
an ingenious neighbor, who, being out of business, I 
encouraged to undertake showing the experiments for 
money, and drew up for him two lectures, in which 



200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

tlie experiments were ranged in such order, and ac» 
companied with such explanations in such method, as 
that the foregoing should assist in comprehending the 
following. He procured an elegant apparatus for the 
purpose, in which all the little machines that I had 
roughly made for myself were nicely formed by instru- 
ment-makers. His lectures were well attended, and 
gave great satisfaction ; and after some time he went 
through the colonies, exhibiting them in every capital 
town, and picked up some money. In the West India 
islands, indeed, it was with difficulty the experiments 
could be made, from the general moisture of the air. 

Obliged as we were to Mr. Collinson for his pres- 
ent of the tube, etc., I thought it right he should be 
informed of our success in using it, and wrote him 
several letters containing accounts of our experiments. 
He got them read in the Royal Society, where they 
were not at first thought worth so much notice as to be 
printed in their Transactions. One paper, which I 
wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the sameness of light- 
ning with electricity, I sent to Dr. Mitchel, an ac- 
quaintance of mine, and one of the members also of 
that society, who wrote me word that it had been 
read but was laughed at by the connoisseurs. The 
papers, however, being shown to Dr. FothergiU, he 
thought them of too much value to be stifled, and ad- 
vised the printing of them. Mr. Collinson then gave 
them to Cave for publication in his Gentleman's Mag- 
azine ; but he chose to print them separately in a pam- 
phlet, and Dr. Fothergill wrote the preface. Cave, 
it seems, judged rightly for his profit, for by the ad- 
ditions that arrived afterward, they swelled to a quarto 
volume, which has had five editions, and cost him 
nothing for copy-money. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 201 

It was, however, some time before those papers were 
much taken notice of in England. A copy of them 
happening to fall into the hands of the Count de Buf- 
fon, a philosopher deservedly of great reputation in 
France, and, indeed, all over Europe, he prevailed 
with M. Dalibard to translate them into French, and 
they were printed at Paris. The publication offended 
the Abbe Nollet, preceptor in Natural Philosophy to 
the royal family, and an able experimenter, who had 
formed and published a theory of electricity, which 
then had the general vogue. He could not at first 
believe that such a work came from America, and said 
it must have been fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to 
decry his system. Afterwards, having been assured 
that there really existed such a person as Franklin at 
Philadelphia, which he had doubted, he wrote and 
published a volume of Letters, chiefly addressed to 
me, defending his theory, and denying the verity of 
my experiments, and of the positions deduced from 
them. 

I once purposed answering the abbe, and actually be- 
gan the answer ; but, on consideration that my writings 
contained a description of experiments which any one 
might repeat and verify, and if not to be verified, could 
not be defended ; or of observations offered as con- 
jectures, and not delivered dogmatically, therefore not 
laying me under any obligation to defend them ; and 
reflecting that a dispute between two persons, writing 
in different languages, might be lengthened greatly by 
mistranslations, and thence misconceptions of one an- 
other's meaning, much of one of the abbe's letters being 
founded on an error in the translation, I concluded to 
let my papers shift for themselves, believing it was bet- 
ter to spend what time I could spare from public busi« 



202 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ness in making new experiments, than in disputing 
about those ah'eady made. I therefore never answered 
M. Nollet, and the event gave me no cause to repent 
my silence ; for my friend M. le Roy, of the Royal 
Academy of Sciences, took up my cause and refuted 
him ; my book was translated into the Italian, German, 
and Latin languages ; and the doctrine it contained was 
by degrees universally adopted by the philosophers of 
Europe, in preference to that of the abbe ; so that he 
lived to see himself the last of his sect, except Mon- 
sieur B , of Paris, his Sieve and immediate dis- 
ciple. 

What gave my book the more sudden and general 
celebrity, was the success of one of its proposed ex- 
periments, made by Messrs. Dalibard and De Lor at 
Marly, for drawing lightning from the clouds. This 
engaged the public attention everywhere. M. de Lor, 
who had an apparatus for experimental philosophy, 
and lectured in that branch of science, undertook to 
repeat what he called the Philadelphia Experiments ; 
and, after they were performed before the king and 
court, all the curious of Paris flocked to see them. I 
will not swell this narrative with an account of that 
capital experiment, nor of the infinite pleasure I re- 
ceived in the success of a similar one I made soon 
after with a kite at Philadelphia, as both are to be 
found in the histories of electricity. 

Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, 
wrote to a friend, who was of the Royal Society, an 
account of the high esteem my experiments were in 
among the learned abroad, and of their wonder that 
my writings had„ been, so little noticed in England. 
The society, on this, resumed the consideration of the 
letters that had been read to them ; and the celebrated 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 203 

Dr. Watson drew up a summary account of them, and 
of all I had afterwards sent to England on the sub- 
ject, which he accompanied with some praise of the 
writer. This summary was then printed in their 
Transactions ; and some members of the society in 
London, particularly the very ingenious Mr. Canton, 
having verified the experiment of procuring lightning 
from the clouds by a pointed rod, and acquainting 
them with the success, they soon made me more than 
amends for the slight with which they had before 
treated me. Without my having made any application 
for that honor, they chose me a member, and voted 
that I should be excused the customary payments, 
which would have amounted to twenty-five guineas ; 
and ever since have given me their Transactions gratis. 
They also presented me with the gold medal of Sir 
Godfrey Copley for the year 1753, the delivery of 
which was accompanied by a very handsome speech of 
the president, Lord Macclesfield, wherein I was highly 
honored. 

Our new governor. Captain Denny, brought over for 
me the before-mentioned medal from the Royal Soci- 
ety, which he presented to me at an entertainment 
given him by the city. He accompanied it with very 
polite expressions of his esteem for me, having, as he 
said, been long acquainted with my character. After 
dinner, when the company, as was customary at that 
time, were engaged in drinking, he took me aside into 
another room, and acquainted me that he had been ad- 
vised by his friends in England to cultivate a friend- 
ship with me, as one who was capable of giving him 
the best advice, and of contributing most effectually 
to the making his administration easy ; that he there- 
fore desired of all things to have a good understand- 



204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

ing with me, and he begged me to be assured of his 
readiness on all occasions to render me every service 
that might be in his power. He said much to me, 
also, of the proprietor's good disposition towards the 
province, and of the advantage it might be to us all, 
and to me in particular, if the opposition that had been 
so long continued to his measures was dropped, and har- 
mony restored between him and the people ; in effect- 
ing which, it was thought no one could be more service- 
able than myself ; and I might depend on adequate 
acknowledgments and recompenses, etc., etc. The 
drinkers, finding we did not return immediately to the 
table, sent us a decanter of Madeira, whicli the gov- 
ernor made liberal use of, and in proj^ortion became 
more profuse of his solicitations and promises. 

My answers were to this purpose: that my circum- 
stances, thanks to God, were such as to make proprie- 
tary favors unnecessary to me ; and that, being a 
member of the Assembly, 1 could not possibly accept 
of any ; that, however, I had no personal enmity to 
the proprietary, and that, whenever the public meas- 
ures he proposed should appear to be for the good of 
the people, no one should espouse and forward them 
more zealously than myself ; my past opposition hav- 
ing been founded on this, that the measures which had 
been urged were evidently intended to serve the pro- 
prietary interest, with great prejudice to that of the 
people ; that I was much obliged to him (the gov- 
ernor) for his professions of regard to me, and that he 
might rely on everything in my power to make his ad- 
ministration as easy as possible, hoping at the same 
time that he had not brought with him the same un- 
fortunate instruction his predecessor had been ham. 
pered with. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 205 

On tliis he did not then explain himself ; but when 
he afterwards came to do business with the Assembly, 
they appeared again, the disputes were renewed, and 
I was as active as ever in the opposition, being the 
penman, first, of the request to have a communication 
of the instructions, and then of the remarks upon 
them, which may be found in the votes of the time, 
and in the Historical Keview I afterward published. 
But between us personally no enmity arose ; we were 
often together ; he was a man of letters, had seen 
much of the world, and was very entertaining and pleas- 
ing in conversation. He gave me the first informa- 
tion that my old friend Jas. Ralph was still alive ; 
that he was esteemed one of the best political writers 
in England ; had been employed in the dispute be- 
tween Prince Frederic and the king, and had obtained 
a pension of three hundred a year ; that his reputation 
was indeed small as a poet, Pope having damned his 
poetry in the Dunciad ; but his prose was thought as 
good as any man's. 

The Assembly finally finding the proprietary obsti- 
nately persisted in manacling their deputies with in- 
structions inconsistent not only with the privileges of 
the people, but with the service of the crown, resolved 
to petition the king against them, and appointed me 
their agent to go over to England, to present and sup- 
port the petition. The House had sent up a bill to 
the governor, granting a sum of sixty thousand pounds 
for the king's use (ten thousand pounds of which was 
subjected to the orders of tlie then general, Lord Lou- 
doun), which the governor absolutely refused to pass, 
in compliance with his instructions. 



206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



XIV. 

DEPAKTUEE FOR ENGLAND. 

I HAD agreed with Captain Morris, of the packet at 
New York, for my passage, and my stores were put 
on board, when Lord Loudoun arrived at Philadelphia, 
expressly, as he told me, to endeavor an accommodation 
between the governor and Assembly, that his majesty's 
service might not be obstructed by their dissensions. 
Accordingly, he desired the governor and myself to 
meet him, that he might hear what was to be said on 
both sides. We met and discussed the business. In 
behalf of the Assembly, I urged all the various argu- 
ments that may be found in the public papers of that 
time, which were of my writing, and are printed with 
the minutes of the Assembly ; and the governor 
pleaded his instructions ; the bond he had given to 
observe them, and his ruin if he disobeyed, yet seemed 
not unwilling to hazard himself if Lord Loudoun 
w^ould advise it. This his lordship did not choose to 
do, though I once thought I had nearly prevailed with 
liim to do it ; but finally he rather chose to urge the 
compliance of the Assembly ; and he entreated me to 
use my endeavors with them for that purpose, declaring 
that he would spare none of the king's troops for the 
defence of our frontiers, and that, if we did not con- 
tinue to provide for that defence ourselves, they must 
remain exposed to the enemy. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 207 

I acquainted the House with what had passed, and, 
presenting them with a set of resohitions I had drawn 
up, declaring our rights, and that we did not relinquish 
our claim to those rights, but only suspended the exer- 
cise of them on this occasion through force^ against 
which we protested, they at length agreed to drop that 
bill, and frame another conformable to the proprie- 
tary instructions. This of course the governor passed, 
and I was then at liberty to proceed on my voyage. 
But, in the mean time, the packet had sailed with my 
sea-stores, which was some loss to me, and my only 
recompense was his lordship's thanks for my service, 
all the credit of obtaining the accommodation falling 
to his share. 

He set out for New York before me ; and, as the 
time for dispatching the packet-boats was at his dispo- 
sition, and there were two then remaining there, one 
of which, he said, was to sail very soon, I requested 
to know the precise time, that I might not miss her by 
any delay of mine. His answer was, " I have given 
out that she is to sail on Saturday next ; but I may let 
you know entre nous, that if you are there by Monday 
morning, you will be in time, but do not delay longer." 
By some accidental hindrance at a ferry, it was Mon- 
day noon before i arrived, and I was much afraid she 
might have sailed, as the wind was fair ; but I was 
soon made easy by the information that she was still 
in the harbor and would not move till the next day. 
One would imagine that I was now on the very point 
of departing for Europe. I thought so ; but I was not 
then so well acquainted with his lordship's character, 
of which i?idecision was one of the strongest features. 
I shall give some instances. It was about the begin- 
ning of April that I came to New York, and I think it 



208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

was near the end of June before we sailed. There were 
then two of the packet-boats which had been long in 
port, but were detained for the general's letters, which 
were always to be ready to-morrow. Another ]3acket 
arrived ; she too was detained ; and before we sailed, 
a fourth was expected. Ours was the first to be dis- 
patched, as having been there longest. Passengers 
were engaged in all, and some extremely impatient to 
be gone, and the merchants uneasy about their letters 
and the orders they had given for insurance (it being 
war time) for fall goods ; but their anxiety availed 
nothing ; his lordship's letters were not ready ; and 
yet whoever waited on him found him always at his 
desk, pen in hand, and concluded he must needs write 
abundantly. 

Going myself one morning to pay my respects, I 
found in his antechamber one Innis, a messenger of 
Philadelphia, who had come from thence express with 
a packet from Governor Denny for the General. He 
delivered to me some letters from my friends there, 
which occasioned my inquiring when he was to return, 
and where he lodged, that I might send some letters 
by him. He told me he was ordered to call to-morrow 
at nine for the general's answer to the governor, and 
should set off immediately. I put my letters into his 
hands the same day. A fortnight after I met him 
again in the same place. " So, you are soon returned, 
Innis ? " '* Returned ! no, I am not gone yet." " How 
so ? " "I have called here by order every morning 
these two weeks past for his lordship's letter, and it 
is not yet ready." " Is it possible, when he is so great 
a writer ? for I see him constantly at his escritoire." 
" Yes," says Innis, " but he is like St. George on the 
signs, always on horseback^ and never rides on."*^ This 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 209 

observation of the messenger was, it seems, well 
founded ; for, when in England, I understood that Mr. 
Pitt gave it as one reason for removing this general, 
and sending Generals Amlierst and Wolfe, that the 
minister never heard from him., and could not hnow 
what he was doing. 

This daily expectation of sailing, and all the three 
packets going down to Sandy Hook, to join the fleet 
there, the passengers thought it best to be on board, 
lest by a sudden order the ships should sail, and they 
be left behind. There, if I remember right, we were 
about six weeks, consuming our sea-stores, and obliged 
to procure more. At length the fleet sailed, the Gen- 
eral and all his army on board, bound to Louisburg, 
with intent to besiege and take that fortress ; all the 
packet-boats in company ordered to attend the Gen- 
eral's ship, ready to receive his dispatches when they 
should be ready. We were out five days before we 
got a letter with leave to part, and then our ship 
quitted the fleet and steered for England. The other 
two packets he still detained, carried them with him to 
Halifax, where he stayed some time to exercise the 
men in sham attacks upon sham forts, then altered his 
mind as to besieging Louisburg, and returned to New 
York, with all his troops, together with the two pack- 
ets above mentioned, and all their passengers. Dur- 
ing his absence the French and savages had taken 
Fort George, on the frontier of that province, and the 
savages had massacred many of the garrison after 
capitulation. 

I saw afterwards in London Captain Bonnell, who 
commanded one of those packets. He told me that, 
when he had been detained a month, he acquainted 
his lordship that his ship had grown foul, to a degree 



210 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

that must necessarily hinder her fast sailing, a point 
of consequence for a packet-boat, and requested an al- 
lowance of time to heave her down and clean her bot- 
tom. He was asked \\o^ long time that would require. 
He answered, three days. The general replied, " If 
you can do it in one day, I give you leave : otherwise 
not ; for you must certainly sail the day after to-mor- 
row." So he never obtained leave, though detained 
afterwards from day to day during full three months. 

I saw also in London one of Bonnell's passengers, 
who was so enraged against his lordship for deceiving 
and detaining him so long at New York, and then 
carrying him to Halifax and back again, that he swore 
he would sue him for damages. Whether he did or 
not, I never heard ; but, as he represented the injury 
to his affairs, it was very considerable. 

On the whole, I wondered much how such a man 
came to be intrusted with so important a business as 
the conduct of a great army ; but, having since seen 
more of the great world, and the means of obtaining, 
and motives for giving places, my wonder is dimin- 
ished. General Shirley, on whom the command of 
the army devolved upon the death of Braddock, 
would, in my opinion, if continued in place, have made 
a much better campaign than that of Loudoun in 
1757, which was frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful 
to our nation beyond conception ; for, though Shirley 
was not a bred soldier, he was sensible and sagacious 
in himself, and attentive to good advice from others, 
capable of forming judicious plans, and quick and ac- 
tive in carrying them into execution. Loudoun, in- 
stead of defending the colonies with his great army, 
left them totally exposed, while he paraded idly at 
Halifax, by which means Fort George was lost ; be- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 211 

sides, he deranged all our mercantile operations, and 
distressed ojur trade, by a long embargo on the expor- 
tation of provisions, on pretence of keeping supplies 
from being obtained by the enemy, but in reality for 
beating down their price in favor of the contractors, 
in whose profits, it was said, perhaps from suspicion 
only, he had a share. And, when at length the em- 
bargo was taken off, by neglecting to send notice of 
it to Charleston, the Carolina fleet was detained 
near three months longer, whereby their bottoms were 
so much damaged by the worm that a great part of 
them foundered in their passage home. 

Shirley w^as, I believe, sincerely glad of being re- 
lieved from so burdensome a charge as the conduct of 
an army must be to a man unacquainted with military 
business. I was at the entertainment given by the 
city of New York to Lord Loudoun,^ on his taking 
upon him the command. Shirley, though thereby su- 
perseded, was present also. There was a great com- 
pany of officers, citizens, and strangers, and, some 
chairs having been borrowed in the neighborhood, 
there was one among them very low, which fell to the 
lot of Mr. Shirley. Perceiving it as I sat by him, I 
said, " They have given you, sir, too low a seat." 
"No matter," says he, "Mr. Franklin, I find alow 
seat the easiest." 

While I was, as afore mentioned, detained at New 
York, I received all the accounts of the provisions, etc., 
that I had furnished to Braddock, some of which ac- 
counts could not sooner be obtained from the different 
persons I had employed to assist in the business. I 
presented them to Lord Loudoun, desiring to be paid 
the balance. He caused them to be regularly ex- 
amined by the proper officer, who, after comparing 



212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

every article with its voucher, certified them to be 
right; and the balance due for which his lordship 
promised to give me an order on the paymaster. This 
was, however, put off from time to time ; and, though 
I called often for it by appointment, I did not get it. 
At length, just before my departure, he told me ho 
had, on better consideration, concluded not to mix his 
accounts with those of his predecessors. " And you," 
says he, " when in England, have only to exhibit your 
accounts at the treasury, and you will be paid immedi- 
ately." 

I mentioned, but without effect, the great and unex- 
pected expense I had been put to by being detained 
so long at New York, as a reason for my desiring to 
be presently paid ; and on my observing that it was 
not right I should be put to any further trouble or 
delay in obtaining the money I had advanced, as I 
charged no commission for my service, " O, sir," says 
he, " you must not think of persuading us that you 
are no gainer ; we understand better those affairs, and 
know that everyone concerned in supplying the army 
finds means, in the doing it, to fill his own pockets." 
I assured him that was not my case, and that I had 
not pocketed a farthing ; but he appeared clearly not 
to believe me ; and, indeed, I have since learnt that 
immense fortunes are often made in such employ- 
ments. As to my balance, I am not paid it to this 
day, of which more hereafter. 

Our captain of the packet had boasted much, be- 
fore we sailed, of the swiftness of his ship ; unfortu- 
nately, when we came to sea, she proved the dullest of 
ninetj^-six sail, to his no small mortification. After 
many conjectures respecting the cause, when we were 
near another ship almost as dull as ours, which, how- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 213 

ever, gained upon us, the captain ordered all hands to 
come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as possi- 
ble. We were, passengers included, about forty per- 
sons. While we stood there, the ship mended her 
pace, and soon left her neighbor far behind, which 
proved clearly what our captain suspected, that she 
was loaded too much by the head. The casks of 
water, it seems, had been all placed forward ; these he 
therefore ordered to be moved further aft, on which 
the ship recovered her character, and proved the best 
sailer in the fleet. * 

The captain said she had once gone at the rate of 
thirteen knots, which is accounted thirteen miles per 
hour. We had on board, as a passenger, Captain 
Kennedy, of the Navy, who contended that it was im- 
possible, and that no ship ever sailed so fast, and that 
there must have been some error in the division of the 
log-line, or some mistake in heaving the log. A 
wager ensued between the two captains, to be decided 
when there should be sufficient wind. Kennedy 
thereupon examined rigorously the log-line, and, being 
satisfied with that, he determined to throw the log 
himself. Accordingly some days after, when the 
wind blew very fair and fresh, and the captain of the 
packet, Lutwidge, said he believed she then went at 
the rate of thirteen knots, Kennedy made the experi- 
ment, and owned his v/ager lost. 

The above fact I give for the sake of the following 
observation. It has been remarked, as an imperfec- 
tion in tiie art of ship-building, that it can never be 
known, till she is tried, whether a new ship will or 
will not be a good sailer ; for that the model of a good- 
sailing ship has been exactly followed in a new one, 
which has proved, on the contrary, remarkably dull. 



214 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

1 apprehend that this may partly be occasioned by 
the different opinions of seamen respecting the modes 
of lading, rigging, and sailing of a ship ; each has his 
system; and the same vessel, laden by the judgment 
and orders of one captain, shall sail better or worse 
than when by the orders of another. Besides, it 
scarce ever happens that a ship is formed, fitted for 
the sea, and sailed by the same person. One man 
builds the hull, another rigs her, a third lades and 
sails her. No one of these has the advantage of 
knowing all the ideas and experience of the others, 
and, therefore, cannot draw just conclusions from a 
combination of the whole. 

Even in the simple operation of sailing when at 
sea, I have often observed different judgments in the 
officers who commanded the successive watches, the 
wind being the same. One would have the sails 
trimmed sharper or flatter than another, so that they 
seemed to have no certain rule to govern by. Yet I 
think a set of exjjeriments might be instituted, first, 
to determine the most proper form of the hull for 
swift sailing ; next, the best dimensions and properest 
place for the masts ; then the form and quantity of 
sails, and their position, as the wind may be ; and, 
lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an age 
of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and 
combined would be of great use. I am persuaded, 
therefore, that ere long some ingenious philosopher 
will undertake it, to whom I wish success. 

We were several times chased in our passage, but 
outsailed everything, and in thirty days had sound- 
ings. We had a good observation, and the captain 
judged himself so near our port, Falmouth, that, if 
Vve made a good run in the night, we might be off the 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 215 

mouth of that harbor in the morning, and by running 
in the night might escape the notice of the enemy's 
privateers, who often cruised near the entrance of the 
channel. Accordingly, all the sail was set that we 
could possibly make, and the wind being very fresh 
and fair, we went right before it, and made great way. 
The captain, after his observation, shaped his course, 
as he thought, so as to pass wide of the Scilly Isles ; 
but it seems there is sometimes a strong indraught set- 
ting uj) St. George's Channel, which deceives seamen 
and caused the loss of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's squad- 
ron. This indraught was probably the cause of what 
happened to us. 

We had a watchman placed in the bow, to whom 
they often called, " Look loell out before there^^^ and 
he as often answered, "^y, ay ; " but perhaps had his 
eyes shut, and was half asleep at the time, they some- 
times answering, as is said, mechanically ; for he did 
not see a light just before us, which had been hid by. 
the studding-sails from the man at the helm, and from 
the rest of the watch, but by an accidental yaw of the 
ship was discovered, and occasioned a great alarm, we 
being very near it, the light appearing to me as big 
as a cart-wheel. It was midnight, and our captain 
fast asleep; but Captain Kennedy, jumping upon 
deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the ship to wear 
round, all sails standing ; an operation dangerous to 
the masts, but it carried us clear, and we escaped 
shipwreck, for we were running right upon the rocks 
on which the lighthouse was erected. This deliver- 
ance impressed me strongly with the utility of light- 
houses, and made me resolve to encourage the build- 
ing more of them in America, if I should live to re- 
turn there. 



216 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

In the morning it was found by the soundings, etc., 
that we were near our port, but a thick fog hid the 
land from our sight. About nine o'clock the fog 
began to rise, and seemed to be lifted up from the 
water like the curtain at a play-house, discovering 
underneath, the town of Falmouth, the vessels in its 
harbor, and the fields that surrounded it. This was 
a most pleasing spectacle to those who had been so 
long without any other prospects than the uniform 
view of a vacant ocean, and it gave us the more pleas- 
ure as we were now free from the anxieties which the 
state of war occasioned. 

I set out immediately, with my son, for London, and 
we only stopped a little by the way to view Stonehenge 
on Salisbury Plain, and Lord Pembroke's house and 
gardens, with his very curious antiquities at Wilton. 
We arrived in London the 27tli of July, 1757o 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 217 



XV. 

THE AFFAIR WITH THE PROPRIETARIES. 

As soon as I was settled in a lodging Mr. Charles 
had provided for me, I went to visit Dr. Fothergill, to 
whom I was strongly recommended, and whose counsel 
respecting my proceedings I was advised to obtain. 
He was against an immediate complaint to govern- 
ment, and thought the proprietaries should first be 
personally applied to, who might possibly be induced 
by the interposition and persuasion of some private 
friends, to accommodate matters amicably. I then 
waited on my old friend and correspondent, Mr. Peter 
Collinson, who told me that John Hanbury, the great 
Virginia merchant, had requested to be informed when 
I should arrive, that he might carry me to Lord Gran- 
ville's, who was then President of the Council and 
wished to see me as soon as possible. I agreed to go 
with him the next morning. Accordingly Mr. Han- 
bury called for me and took me in his carriage to that 
nobleman's, who received me with great civility ; and 
after some questions respecting the present state of 
affairs in America and discourse thereupon, he said 
to me : " You Americans have wrong ideas of the 
nature of your constitution ; you contend that the 
king's instructions to his governors are not laws, 
and think yourselves at liberty to regard or disregard 
them at your own discretion. But those instructions 
are not like the pocket instructions given to a minister 



218 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

going abroad, for regulating his conduct in some 
trifling point of ceremony. They are first drawn up 
by judges learned in the laws; they are then con- 
sidered, debated, and perhaps amended in Council, 
after which they are signed by the king. They are 
then, so far as they relate to you, the laio of the land, 
for the king is the Legislator of the Colonies." 
I told his lordship this was new doctrine to me. I had 
always understood from our charters that our laws 
were to be made by our Assemblies, to be presented 
indeed to the king for his royal assent, but that being 
once given the king could not repeal or alter them. 
And as the Assemblies could not make permanent 
laws without his assent, so neither could he make a 
law for them without theirs. He assured me I was 
totally mistaken. I did not think so, however, and his 
lordship's conversation having a little alarmed me as 
to what might be the sentiments of the court concern- 
ing us, I wrote it down as soon as I returned to my 
lodgings. I recollected that . about twenty years be- 
fore, a clause in a bill brought into Parliament by the 
ministry had proposed to make the king's instructions 
laws in the colonies, but the clause was thrown out by 
the Commons, for which we adored them as our 
friends and friends of liberty, till by their conduct 
towards us in 1765 it seemed that, they had refused 
that point of sovereignty to the king only that they 
might reserve it for themselves. 

After some days. Dr. Fothergill having spoken to 
the proprietaries, they agreed to a meeting with me 
at Mr. T. Penn's house in Spring Garden. The con- 
versation at first consisted of mutual declarations of 
disposition to reasonable accommodations, but I sup- 
pose each party had its own ideas of what should be 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 219 

meant by reasonable. We then went into considera- 
tion of our several points of complaint, which I enu- 
merated. The proprietaries justified their conduct as 
well as they could, and I the Assembly's. We now 
appeared very wide, and so far from each other in our 
opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement. How- 
ever, it was concluded that I should give them the 
heads of our complaints in writing, and they promised 
then to consider them. I did so soon after, but they 
put the paper into the hands of their solicitor, Ferdi- 
nand John Paris, who managed for them all their law 
business in their great suit with the neighboring pro- 
prietary of Maryland, Lord Baltimore, which had 
subsisted seventy years, and wrote for them all their 
papers and messages in their dispute with the Assem- 
bly. He was a proud, angry man, and as I had occa- 
sionally in the answers of the Assembly treated his 
papers with some severity, they being really weak in 
point of argument and haughty in expression, he had 
conceived a mortal enmity to me, which discovering 
itself whenever we met, I declined the proprietary's 
proposal that he and I should discuss the heads of 
complaint between our two selves and refused treating 
with any one but them. They then by his advice put 
the paper into the hands of the Attorney and Solicitor- 
General for their opinion and counsel upon it, where 
it lay unanswered a year wanting eight days, during 
which time I made frequent demands of an answer 
from the proprietaries, but without obtaining any 
other than that they had not yet received the opinion 
of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. What it was 
when they did receive it I never learnt, for they did 
not communicate it to me, but sent a long message to 
the Assembly drawn and signed by Paris, reciting my 



220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

paper, complaining of its want of formality, as a rude- 
ness on my part, and giving a flimsy justification of 
their conduct, adding thrt they should be willing to 
accommodate matters if the Assembly would send out 
some person of candor to treat with them for that 
purpose, intimating thereby that I was not such. 

The want of formality or rudeness was, probably, 
my not having addressed the paper to them with their 
assumed titles of True and Absolute Proprietaries of 
the Province of Pennsylvania, which I omitted as not 
thinking it necessary in a paper, the intention of which 
was only to reduce to a certainty by writing, what in 
conversation I had delivered viva voce} 

But during this delay, the Assembly having pre- 
vailed with Governor Denny to pass an act taxing the 
proprietary estate in common with the estates of the 
people, which was the grand point in dispute, they 
omitted answering the message. 

When this act however came over, the proprietaries, 
counselled by Paris, determined to oppose its receiv- 
ing the royal assent. Accordingly they petitioned the 
king in Council, and a hearing was appointed in which 
two lawyers were employed by them against the act, 
and two by me in support of it. They alleged that 
the act was intended to load the proprietary estate in 
order to spare those of the people, and that if it 
were suffered to continue in force, and the proprieta- 
ries, who were in odium with the people, left to their 
mercy in proportioning the taxes, they would inevita^ 
bly be ruined. We replied that the act had no such 
intention, and would have no such effect. That the 
assessors were honest and discreet men under an oath 
to assess fairly and equitably, and that any advantage 
^ That is, by word of mouth. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 221 

each of them might expect in lessening his own tax by 
augmenting that of the proprietaries was too trifling 
to induce them to perjure themselves. This is the 
purport of what I remember as urged by both sides, 
except that we insisted strongly on the mischievous 
consequences that must attend a repeal, for that the 
money, c£100,000, being printed ^ and given to the 
king's use, expended in his service, and now spread 
among the people, the repeal would strike it dead in 
their hands to the ruin of many, and the total discour- 
agement of future grants, and the selfishness of the 
proprietors in soliciting such a general catastrophe, 
merely from a groundless fear of their estate being 
taxed too highly, was insisted on in the strongest terms. 
On this. Lord Mansfield, one of the counsel, rose, 
and beckoning me took me into the clerk's chamber, 
while the lawyers were pleading, and asked me if I 
was really of opinion that no injury would be done 
the proprietary estate in the execution of the act. I 
said, certainly. " Then," says he, " you can have little 
objection to enter into an engagement to assure that 
point." I answered, " None at all." He then called 
in Paris, and after some discourse, his lordship's 
proposition was accepted on both sides ; a paper to 
the purpose was drawn up by the Clerk of the Council, 
which I signed with Mr. Charles, who was also an 
Agent of the Province for their ordinary affairs, when 
Lord Mansfield returned to the Council Chamber, 
where finally the law was allowed to pass. Some 
changes were however recommended, and we also en- 
gaged they should be made by a subsequent law, but 
the Assembly did not think them necessary ; for one 
year's tax having been levied by the act before the 
^ The himclred thousand pounds was paper money, not coin. 



222 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANKLIN. 

order o£ Council arrived, they appointed a committee 
to examine the proceedings of the assessors, and on 
this committee they put several particular friends of 
the proprietaries. After a full enquiry, they unani- 
mously signed a report that they found the tax had 
been assessed with perfect equity. 

The Assembly looked into my entering into the 
first part of the engagement as an essential service 
to the Province, since it secured the credit of the 
paper money then spread over all the country. They 
gave me their thanks in form when I returned. But 
the proprietaries were enraged at Governor Denny for 
having passed the act, and turned him out with threats 
of suino- him for breach of instructions which he had 
given bond to observe. He, however, having done it 
at the instance of the General, and for His Majesty's 
service, and having some powerful interest at court, 
despised the threats and they were never put in exe- 
cution. 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

FROM THE POINT AT WHICH HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
ENDS, CHIEFLY DRAWN FROM HIS LETTERS. 



Franklin went to England in 1757 as agent for the 
colony of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of settling a 
controversy which the colony had with the Penn fam- 
ily. He was detained on this business three years, but 
was able to carry his main point, which was the right 
of the Assembly to tax the proprietary estates. He 
went without his wife and daughter, but was attended 
by his son William. At the end of the three years he 
did not return immediately to America. His public 
business had made him acquainted with many mem- 
bers of the government, and he was very desirous of 
securing the best terms for America in the treaty 
which was pending between England and France. 
The fall of Quebec had put an end to the French 
power in Canada, but Franklin thought, and thought 
truly, that England did not understand how important 
Canada was to her. By his familiarity with Ameri- 
can affairs he was able to give advice to the gov- 
ernment in this matter, and at the same time could 
inform English people generally about his native coun- 
try through the public journals. He found there was 
dense ignorance about America, and saw clearly that 
it was of the utmost importance that Englishmen 



224 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

should understand Americans if there was to be good 
feeling between the two parts of the British empire. 
He was greatly interested also in his philosophical ex- 
periments. 

While he was in London he made his home with 
Mrs. Margaret Stevenson in Craven Street, Strand, 
and became greatly attached to her and to her daugh- 
ter Mary, then a girl of eighteen, whom he hoped his 
son William would marry. These ladies were very 
civil to him ; and when he wrote home to his wife he 
frequently showed her how much they did to make his 
stay agreeable. Almost everything of the better sort 
in the way of clothing and household stuff which the 
Americans of that day used came from England, and 
Franklin pleased himself and his wife by sending 
goods to her from time to time. 

"■I send you," he writes, "by Captain Budden a 
large case and a small box. In the large case is an- 
other small box, containing some English china, viz., 
melons and leaves for a dessert of fruit and cream, 
or the like ; a bowl remarkable for the neatness of the 
figures, made at Bow, near this city ; some coffee-cups 
of the same ; a Worcester bowl, ordinary. To show 
the difference of workmanship, there is something from 
all the china works in England ; and one old true 
china basin mended, of an odd color. The same box 
contains four silver salt-ladles, newest but ugliest fash- 
ion ; a little instrument to core apples ; another to 
make little turnips out of great ones ; six coarse diaper 
breakfast-cloths ; they are to spread on the tea-table, 
for nobody breakfasts here on the naked table, but 
on the cloth they set a large tea-board with the 
cups. ... In the great case, besides the little box, is 
contained some carpeting for a best-room floor. There 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 225 

is enough for one large or two small ones ; it is to be 
sewed together, the edges being first felled down, and 
care taken to make the figures meet exactly ; there is 
bordering for the same. This was my fancy. Also 
two large, fine Flanders bed-ticks, and two pair of 
large superfine blankets, two fine damask table-cloths 
and napkins, and forty-three ells of Ghentish sheeting, 
Holland. These you ordered. There are also fifty-six 
yards of cotton printed curiously from copper plates, 
a new invention, to make bed and window curtains ; 
and seven yards of chair-bottoms, printed in the same 
way, very neat. These were my fancy ; but Mrs. Ste- 
venson tells me I did wrong not to buy both of the 
same color. Also seven yards of printed cotton, blue 
ground, to make you a gown. I bought it by candle- 
light, and liked it then, but not so well afterwards. 
If you do not fancy it, send it as a present from me to 
sister Jenny. There is a better gown for you of flow- 
ered tissue, sixteen yards, of Mrs. Stevenson's fancy, 
cost nine guineas ; and I think it a great beauty. 
There was no more of the sort, or you should have 
had enough for a negligee or suit. 

" There are also snuffers, a snuff -stand, and extin- 
guisher, of steel, which I send for the beauty of the 
work. The extinguisher is for spermaceti candles 
only, and is of a new contrivance, to preserve the 
snuff upon the candle. There is some music Billy 
bought for his sister, and some pamphlets for the 
Speaker and for Susy Wright. A mahogany and a 
little shagreen box, with microscopes, and other opti- 
cal instruments loose, are for Mr. Alison, if he likes 
them ; if not, put them in my room till I return. I 
send the invoice of them, and I wrote to him formerly 
the reason of my exceeding his orders. There are 



226 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

also two sets of books, a present from me to Sally, — 
The World, and The Connoisseur. My love to her. 

" I forgot to mention another of my fancyings, viz., a 
pair of silk blankets, very fine. They are of a new 
kind, were just taken in a French prize, and such were 
never seen in England before. They are called blank 
ets, but I think they will be very neat to cover a sum- 
mer bed, instead of a quilt or counterpane. I had no 
choice, so you will excuse the soil on some of the 
folds ; your neighbor Foster can get it off. I also for- 
got, among the china, to mention a large, fine jug for 
beer, to stand in the cooler. I fell in love with it at 
first sight ; for I thought it looked like a fat, jolly 
dame, clean and tidy, with a neat blue and white 
calico gown on, good-natured and lovely, and put me 
in mind of — somebody. It has the coffee-cups in it, 
packed in best crystal salt, of a peculiar nice flavor, 
for the table, not to be powdered. 

" I hope Sally applies herself closely to her French 
and music, and that I shall find she has made great 
proficiency. The harpsichord I was about, and which 
was to have cost me forty guineas, Mr. Stanley advises 
me not to buy ; and we are looking out for another, 
one that has been some time in use, and is a tried good 
one, there being not so much dependence on a new 
one, though made by the best hands. Sally's last 
letter to her brother is the best wrote that of late I 
have seen of hers. I only wish she was a little more 
careful of her spelling. I hope she continues to love 
going to church, and would have her read over and 
over again the Whole Duty of 3Ia?i, and the Lady's 
Library. 

" Look at the figures on the china bowl and coffee* 
cups with your spectacles on ; they will bear exam* 
ining. 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 22T 

" I have made your compliments to Mrs. Stevenson. 
She is indeed very obliging, takes great care of my 
health, and is very diligent when I am any way indis- 
posed ; but yet I have a thousand times wished you 
with me, and my little Sally with her ready hands 
and feet to do, and go, and come, and get what I 
wanted." 

Franklin's experiments in electricity and his several 
inventions had made him well known in England, 
and his attention to public business brought him into 
connection with many of the members of govern- 
ment, as well as with other persons of consequence. 
He made friends with every one, and was interested in 
everything. He went to Cambridge, and was received 
by the principal people at the university there with 
great civility. He made a trip to Northamptonshire 
and looked up the graves of his ancestors and gathered 
stories about them. His father was born at Ecton, as 
he mentions in the Autobiography, and his father's 
brother, Thomas Franklin, had lived and died in Ec- 
ton. Thomas Franklin's daughter was living there, 
and entertained her cousin with stories about her 
father. " He was ' a conveyancer,' " Franklin writes to 
his wife, " something of a lawyer, clerk of the county 
courts, and clerk to the archdeacon in his visitations ; 
a very leading man in all county affairs, and much 
employed in jxiblic business. He set on foot a sub- 
scription for erecting chimes in their steeple, and com- 
pleted it, and we heard them play. He found out an 
easy method of saving their village meadows from 
being drowned, as they used to be sometimes by the 
river, which method is still in being ; but, when first 
proposed, nobody could conceive how it could be ; 
* but however,' they said, ' if Franklin says he knows 



228 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

how to do it, it will be done.' His advice and opinion 
were sought for on all occasions, by all sorts of peo- 
ple, and he was looked upon, she said, by some, as 
something of a conjurer. He died just four years be- 
fore I was born, on the same day of the same month." 
Here was a village Franklin of much the same charac= 
ter as his more famous nephew, who had Philadelphia 
instead of Ecton to experiment in. 

The America of Franklin's time was scarcely more 
than a strip of sea-coast from Canada to Florida ; 
little was known of the country that lay behind the 
AUeghanies, and most of the business was in the way 
of commerce with England. Franklin had had excel- 
lent opportunities for knowing his country. He had 
travelled through it more than many ; he had been 
postmaster-general, and he had had to do with people 
in many different ways. His stay in England had 
taught him not only how little English people really 
knew about America, but how rapidly America was 
growing in comparison with England. When he 
travelled through the English counties and compared 
the farmers, living as their ancestors had lived for 
hundreds of years, scarcely stirring out of their little 
village, with the farmers of America, who needed to 
be on the alert all the while and to use their wits in a 
new country among hostile savages, he was struck by 
the importance of the American colonies. He was 
proud of belonging to the British empire, and he 
wanted to see all America a part of that empire. The 
French had just been defeated in Canada, but the 
terms of peace had not yet been arranged between 
England and France; and Franklin found that some 
of the English did not seem to understand the value 
of their conquest in America. He wrote to an emi* 
nent man : 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 229 

" No one can more sincerely rejoice than I do, on 
the reduction of Canada ; and this is not merely as 1 
am a colonist, but as I am a Briton. I have long been 
of opinion that the foundations of the future gran- 
deur and stability of the British enijnre lie in Amer- 
ica ; and though, like other foundations, they are low 
and little now, they are, nevertheless, broad and strong 
enough to support the greatest political structure that 
human wisdom ever yet erected. I am, therefore, by 
no means for restoring Canada. If we keep it, all the 
country from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi will 
in another century be filled with British people. Brit- 
ain itself will become vastly more populous, by the 
immense increase of its commerce ; the Atlantic sea 
will be covered with your trading ships ; and your 
naval power, thence continually increasing, will extend 
your influence round the whole globe, and awe the 
world! If the French remain in Canada, they will 
continually harass our colonies by the Indians, and 
impede, if not prevent, their growth : your progress to 
greatness will at best be slow, and give room for many 
accidents that may forever prevent it. But I refrain, 
for I see you begin to think my notions extravagant, 
and look upon them as the ravings of a mad prophet." 

It is one mark of a great man that he can pass ea= 
sily from important to trifling matters, and Franklin 
seemed as much himself when he was buying china 
bowls for his wife as when he was studying how to 
enlarge the boundaries of the British emj)ire. So he 
never was in a hurry and had abundant leisure to 
write to his friends and to look after the education of 
Mary Stevenson. He advised her what books to read 
and how to read them. 

" I send my good girl the books I mentioned to her 



230 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

last night. I beg her to accept of them as a small 
mark of my esteem and friendship. They are written 
in the familiar, easy manner for which the French 
are so remarkable, and afford a good deal of philo- 
sophic and practical knowledge, unembarrassed with 
the dry mathematics used by more exact reasoners, 
but which are apt to discourage young beginners. 

" I would advise you to read with a pen in your 
hand, and enter in a little book short hints of what 
you find that is curious, or that may be useful ; for 
this will be the best method of imprinting such partic- 
ulars in your memory, where they will be ready, either 
for practice on some future occasion, if they are mat- 
ters of utility, or at least to adorn and improve your 
conversation, if they are rather points of curiosity. 

" And as many of the terms of science are such, as 
you cannot have met with in your common reading, 
and may therefore be unacquainted with, I think it 
would be well for you to have a good dictionary at 
hand, to consult immediately when you meet with a 
word you do not comprehend the precise meaning of. 
This may at first seem troublesome and interrupting •, 
but it is a trouble that will daily diminish, as you will 
daily find less and less occasion for your dictionary, 
as you become more and more acquainted with the 
terms ; and in the mean time you will read with more 
satisfaction, because with more understanding. 

" When any point occurs in which you would be 
glad to have further information than your book 
aifords you, I beg you would not in the least appre- 
hend that I should think it a trouble to receive and 
answer your questions. It will be a pleasure, and no 
trouble. For, though I may not be able, out of my 
own little stock of knowledge, to afford you what you 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 231 

require, I can easily direct you to the books where 
it may most readily be found." 

Near the end of August, 1762, Franklin returned 
to America after an absence from his country of five 
years. He remained there about two years and then 
went back to England to serve the colony of Pennsyl- 
vania again as their agent. Not long after his return 
he wrote to one of his Eno-lish friends the foUowins: 
letter, which gives an account of his two years in 
America. 

" You require my history from the time I set sail 
for America. I left England about the end of August, 
1762, in company with ten sail of merchant-ships, un- 
der a convoy of a man-of-war. We had a pleasant pas- 
sage to Madeira, where we were kindly received and 
entertained, our nation being then in high honor 
with the Portuguese, on account of the protection we 
were then affording them against the united invasions 
of France and Spain, It is a fertile island, and the 
different heights and situations among its mountains 
afford such temperaments of air that all the fruits of 
northern and southern countries are produced there, 
— corn, grapes, apples, peaches, oranges, lemons, plan- 
tains, bananas, etc. Here we furnished ourselves with 
fresh provisions, and refreshments of all kinds ; and, 
after a few days, proceeded on our voyage,' running 
southward until we got into the trade-winds, and then 
with them westward, till we drew near the coast of 
America. The weather was so favorable that there 
were few days in which we could not visit from ship 
to ship, dining with each other, and on board of the 
man-of-war ; which made the time pass agreeably, 
much more so than when one goes in a single ship ; 
for this was like travelling in a moving village, with 
all one's neighbors about one. 



232 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

" On the 1st of November I arrived safe and well 
at my own home, after an absence of near six years, 
found my wife and daughter well, the latter grown 
quite a woman, with many amiable accomplishments 
acquired in my absence, and my friends as hearty 
and affectionate as ever, with whom my house was 
filled for many days, to congratulate me on my returUo 
I had been chosen yearly during my absence to repre- 
sent the city of Philadelphia in our Provincial Assem- 
bly ; and, on my appearance in the House, they voted 
me three thousand pounds sterling for my services in 
England, and their thanks, delivered by the Speaker. 
In February following, my son arrived with my 
new daughter ; for, with my consent and approbation, 
he married, soon after I left England, a very agreeable 
West India lady, with whom he is very happy. I ac- 
comiDanied him to' his government, where he met with 
the kindest reception from the people of all ranks, and 
has lived with them ever since in the greatest har- 
mony. A river only parts that province and ours, and 
his residence is within seventeen miles of me, so that 
we frequently see each other.^ 

" In the spring of 1763, I set out on a tour through 
all the northern colonies to inspect and regulate the 
post-offices in the several provinces. In this jour- 
ney I spent the summer, travelled about sixteen 
hundred miles, and did not get home till the begin- 
ning of November. The Assembly sitting through 
the following winter, and warm disputes arising be- 
tween them and the governor, I became wholly en= 

1 William Franklin liad been made governor of New Jersey. The 
English government hoped by this means to secure the loyalty of the 
father, but only made sure of the son, who was a Tory in the coming 
revolution. 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 233 

gaged in public affairs; for, besides my duty as an 
Assemblyman, I had another trust to execute, that of 
being one of the commissioners appointed by law to 
dispose of the public money appropriated to the rais- 
ing and paying an army to act against the Indians, 
and defend the frontiers. And then, in December, 
we had two insurrections of the back inhabitants of 
our province, by whom twenty poor Indians were mur- 
dered, that had, from the first settlement of the prov- 
ince, lived among us, under the protection of our 
government. This gave me a good deal of employ- 
ment ; for, as the rioters threatened further mischief, 
and their actions seemed io be approved by an ever- 
acting party, I wrote a pamphlet entitled A JYarra- 
tive, etc} (which I think I sent to you), to strengthen 
the hands of our weak government, by rendering the 
proceedings of the rioters unpopular and odious. This 
had a good effect ; and afterwards, when a great body 
of them, with arms, marched toward the capital, in de- 
fiance of the government, with an avowed resolution 
to put to death one hundred and forty Indian con- 
verts then under its protection, I formed an associa- 
tion, at the governor's request, for his and their de- 
fence, we having no militia. Near one thousand of 
the citizens accordingly took arms. Governor Penn 
made my house for some time his headquarters, and 
did everything by my advice ; so that for about forty- 
eight hours I was a very great man, as I had been 
once some years before, in a time of public danger.^ 

" But the fighting face we put on, and the reason- 
ings we used with the insurgents (for I went, at the 
request of the governor and council, with three others, 

1 A Narrative of the Late Massacres. 

2 That is, when he rendered great assistance to General Braddock. 



234 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

to meet and discourse with them), having turned them 
back and restored quiet to the city, I became a less 
Qian than ever : for I had, by this transaction, made 
myself many enemies among the populace ; and the 
governor (with whose family our public disputes hnd. 
long placed me in an unfriendly light, and the services 
I had lately rendered him not being of the kind that 
make a man acceptable), thinking it a favorable op- 
portunity, joined the whole weight of the proprietary 
interest to get me out of the Assembly, which was 
accordingly effected at the last election, by a major- 
ity of about twenty-five in four thousand voters. 

" The House, however, when they met in October, 
approved of the resolutions taken, while I was Speaker, 
of petitioning the crown for a change of government, 
and requested me to return to England, to prosecute 
that petition ; which service I accordingly undertook, 
and embarked at the beginning of November last, 
being accompanied to the ship, sixteen miles, by a 
cavalcade of three hundred of my friends, who filled our 
sails with their good wishes, and I arrived in thirty days 
at London. Here I have been ever since, engaged in 
that and other public affairs relating to America which 
are like to continue some time longer upon my hands ; 
but I promise you, that when I am quit of these, I 
will enofao'e in no other ; and that, as soon as I have 
recovered the ease and leisure I hope for, the task you 
require of me, of finishing my A^^t of Virtue^ shall be 
performed." 

Franklin's ease and leisure were long in coming. 
The difficulties between England and her American 
colonies began from this time to grow more serious. 
No sooner had the colonies been rid of their fear of the 
French than they saw that the mother country meant 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 235 

to treat them as if they always were to be children. 
They were not to be allowed to manufacture anything 
for themselves, but must buy everything they needed 
of England. England, moreover, had incurred a heavy 
debt by her war with France, and meant, if possible, to 
make America pay a good share of the debt. But for 
years there had been a standing quarrel between the 
colonies and the governors whom the king of England 
appointed over them. The people in the colonies were 
willing to support the representatives of the crown, 
but they stoutly refused to be taxed by the English 
parliament. They would lay their own taxes in their 
own assemblies, but they denied that Parliament had 
the right to lay these taxes. Franklin busied himself 
by letters to the newspapers, and by conference with 
important people, with the task of showing English- 
men how Americans felt and reasoned. He watched 
affairs with great closeness and saw that the colonies 
were growing stronger and more resolute. He was 
proud of the persistence with which they had stood up 
for their rights. When the Stamp Act was repealed, 
he wrote to his wife : 

" As the Stamp Act is at length repealed, I am 
willing you should have a new gown, which you may 
suppose I did not send sooner, as I knew you would 
not like to be finer than your neighbors, unless in a 
gown of your own spinning. Had the trade between 
the two countries totally ceased, it was a comfort to 
me to recollect that I had once been clothed from 
head to foot in woollen and linen of my wife's manufac- 
ture, that I never was prouder of any dress in my life, 
and that she and her daughter might do it again if it 
was necessary. I told the Parliament that it was my 
opinion, before the old clothes of the Americans were 



236 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

worn out they might have new ones of their own mak- 
ing. I have sent you a fine piece of Pompadour satin, 
fourteen yards, cost eleven shillings a yard, a silk 
negligee and a petticoat of brocaded lutestring for my 
dear Sally, with two dozen gloves, four bottles of lav- 
ender water, and two little reels. The reels are to 
screw on the edge of the table, when she would wind 
silk or thread. The skein is to be put over them, and 
winds better than if held in two hands. 

''There is also a gimcrack corkscrew, which you 
must get some brother gimcrack to show you the use 
of. In the chest is a parcel of books for my friend 
Mr. Coleman, and another for Cousin Colbert. Pray 
did he receive those I sent him before ? I send you 
also a box with three fine cheeses. Perhaps a bit of 
them may be left when I come home. Mrs. Stevenson 
has been very diligent and serviceable in getting those 
things together for you, and presents her best respects, 
as does her daughter, to both you and Sally. There 
are two boxes included in your bill of lading for 
Billy." 

For ten years Franklin remained in England, where 
he was agent, not only for Pennsylvania, but for Massa- 
chusetts, New Jersey and Georgia. Everybody looked 
to him for advice ; and when committees of Parliament 
wished to make inquiry about America they were 
pretty sure to send for Dr. Franldin, as he was gen- 
erally called. Indeed, the English government, seeing 
how important a man he was, flattered him and tried 
to make him support them in the dispute with Amer- 
ica, which was growing more serious every year. They 
had made his son governor of New Jersey, as we have 
seen, and offered large inducements to Franklin, but 
he remained steadfast to the colonies ; and at last 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 237 

the English government, unable to cajole him, turned 
about, took his office of postmaster-general from him, 
and showed plainly that they regarded him as an 
enemy. 

It was useless for Franklin to remain longer in Eng= 
land, and affairs had come to such a pass that he was 
needed in America. He had tried his best to bring 
about a reconciliation between England and her colo- 
nies, but since all was in vain, he was ready to cast in 
his lot with his country. Accordingly he returned to 
America in May, 1775. He reached Philadelphia one 
evening, and the very next morning was unanimously 
chosen by the Assembly of Pennsylvania a delegate to 
the Continental Congress, which was then sitting in the 
city. How earnestly he threw himself into the Ameri- 
can cause may be seen by a letter which he wrote, 
July 5, 1775, to an Englishman, a printer, who had 
been one of his oldest and best friends in London : — 

" Mr. Strahan : You are a member of Parlia- 
ment, and one of that majority which has doomed my 
country to destruction. You have begun to burn our 
towns and murder our people. Look upon your hands ; 
they are stained with the blood of your relations! 
You and I were long friends ; you are now my enemy, 
and I am yours." 

To others he wrote in a different strain. Many pa- 
triots were uncertain how the contest would end, and 
Dr. Franklin, no doubt, had many hours of trouble; 
but he had a cheerfulness and a hopeful way of writ- 
ing and speaking which went very far toward keeping 
his countrymen in good spirits. 

" Tell our dear, good friend. Dr. Price, who some- 
times has his doubts and despondencies about our firm- 
ness," he wrote to an English acquaintance, "that 



238 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

America is determined and unanimous, a very few 
Tories and placemen excepted, who will probably soon 
export themselves. Britain, at the expense of three 
millions, has killed one hundred and fifty Yankees 
this campaign, which is twenty thousand pounds a 
head; and at Bunker's Hill she gained a mile of 
ground, half of which she lost again by our taking 
post on Ploughed Hill. During the same time sixty 
thousand children have been born in America. From 
these data his mathematical head will easily calculate 
the time and expense necessary to kill us all, and con- 
quer our whole territory." 

Congress, in 1776, appointed Dr. Franklin one of 
three commissioners to Canada, whither they went in 
hopes of prevailing on that country so recently hostile 
to Great Britain, to join the colonies in their revolt ; 
but the errand was of no avail, for the settlements in 
Canada were made up for the most part of poor and 
ignorant French peasants, who had no thought of any- 
thing beyond the farms on which they lived, and had 
not been trained, as the English colonists had been, 
in self-government. Franklin returned to Philadel- 
phia in time to take part in the discussions which led 
to the Declaration of Independence. 

Some of the members of Congress were disposed to 
criticise the document, and to propose changes in the 
form. Thomas Jefferson, the chief author of the Dec= 
laration, was very uneasy under these amendments, 
and Franklin, who was sitting by him, noticed his vex- 
ation, and said to him : 

"I have made it a rule, whenever in my power, to 
avoid becoming the draftsman of papers to be reviewed 
by a public body. I took my lesson from an incident 
which I will relate to you. When I was a journey 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 239 

man printer, one of my companions, an apprenticed 
hatter, having served out his time, was about to open 
shop for himself. His first concern was to have a 
handsome sign-board, with a proper inscription. He 
composed it in these words : John Thompson^ Hatter^^ 
makes and sells hats for ready money., with a figure 
of a hat subjoined. But he thought he would submit 
it to his friends for their amendments. The first he 
showed it to thought the word hatter tautologous, be- 
cause followed by the words makes hats, which showed 
he was a hatter. It was struck out. The next observed 
that the word makes might as well be omitted, be- 
cause his customers would not care who made the 
hats ; if good and to their mind they would buy, by 
whomsoever made. He struck it out. A third said 
he thought the words /or ready money were useless, as 
it was not the custom of the place to sell on credit. 
Every one who purchased expected to pay. They were 
parted with, and the inscription now stood, John 
Thompson sells hats. ' Sells hats ? ' says his next 
friend ; ' why, nobody will expect you to give them 
away. What, then, is the use of that word ? ' It was 
stricken out, and hats followed, the rather as there 
was one painted on the board. So his inscription 
was ultimately reduced to John Thompson., with the 
figure of a hat subjoined." 

When war had fairly begun, and the colonies, by 
their Declaration of Independence, had finally sepa= 
rated from England, it became very important to make 
friends with other European powers. The Declaration 
was a protest to the world against the injustice of 
England, and an argument why the states should be a 
nation governing itself. But if a nation, then it must 
take its place among other nations, and send ambas- 



240 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

sadors to tliera. Besides, America had so long been 
dependent on England, and England had so steadily 
discouraged and forbidden all manufactures in her col- 
onies, that the country stood in need of many things, 
as guns and means of carrying on the war ; there was 
little money in the land, for the merchants could no 
longer sell to their customers in England. So Con- 
gress set about sending men to France and Spain and 
Holland in order that the United States might make 
friends with those countries, and receive aid and bor- 
row money for carrying on the war. It was especially 
important to send a representative to France, for 
France was an enemy to England and could be of the 
greatest service to the new nation. It was very clear 
who was the best man to send : Dr. Franklin was 
chosen unanimously. He is said to have turned to a 
friend, when the result was announced, saying : "I am 
old and good for nothing ; but as the store-keepers say 
of their remnants of cloth, ' I am but a fag end, you 
may have me for what you please.' " 

Franklin was seventy years old when he went to 
France near the end of the year 1776, and there he re- 
mained until the war was over and peace was signed. 
He was now a very famous man, and as many of the 
French people were enthusiastic friends of America, 
they took every opportunity of honoring Franklin. 
The French men of science welcomed him among 
them, and wherever he went he was received with the 
greatest distinction. He established himself at Passy, 
a suburb of Paris, and not only minded American 
affairs, but made philosophical experiments and kept 
up a lively correspondence with his old friends in Eng- 
land and America. 

" You are too early, hussy ^^"^ he wrote good-naturedly 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE, 241 

to one of his English correspondents, " as well as too 
saucy, in calling me rebel ; you should wait for the 
event which will determine whether it is a rebellion 
or only a 7'evolution. ... I know you wish you could 
see me ; but, as you cannot, I will describe myself to 
you. Figure me in your mind as jolly as formerly r, 
and as strong and hearty, only a few years older ; very 
plainly dressed, wearing my thin, gray, straight hair, 
that peeps out under my only coiffure,, a fine fur cap 
which comes down my forehead almost to my spectacles. 
Think how this must appear among the powdered heads 
of Paris ! I wish every lady and gentleman in France 
would only be so obliging as to follow my fashion, 
comb their own heads as I do mine, dismiss their /r/- 
seurs,, and pay me half the money they paid to them.'* 

It was a hard task that Franklin had to perform in 
France. His countrymen came to him when they 
were in trouble. He had to watch the French gov- 
ernment tp see that they did not use the Americans 
for their own advantage. He had to borrow money 
for his government, and at last, when the war was over, 
he, with the other commissioners, needed to exercise the 
greatest wisdom to secure for the United States favora- 
ble terms. He felt his growing age. His wife had 
died several years before, and he had lost much of his 
property, but he never seemed to lose the cheerful 
spirit which he carried through life. He wrote to his 
old friend Mary Stevenson, now Mrs. Hewson : 

" At length we are at peace. God be praised, and 
long, very long, may it continue. All wars are follies, 
very expensive, and very mischievous ones. When 
will mankind be convinced of this, and agree to settle 
their differences by arbitration ? Were they to do it, 
even by the cast of a die, it would be better than by 



242 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

fighting and destroying each other. ... In looking 
forward, twenty-five years seem a long period, but, in 
looking back, how short ! Could you imagine that it 
is now full a quarter of a century since we were first 
acquainted? It was in 1757. During the greatest 
part of the time I lived in the same house with my 
dear deceased friend, your mother ; of course you and 
I conversed with each other much and often. It is to 
all our honors that in all that time we never had 
among us the smallest misunderstanding. Our friend- 
ship has been all clear sunshine, without the least 
cloud in its hemisphere. Let me conclude by saying 
to you, what I have had too frequent occasions to say 
to my other remaining old friends : ' The fewer we be- 
come, the more let us love one another.' " 

It was some time before the treaty of peace was 
finally ratified and Franldin remained in France. He 
wished to go home. He was old and feeble and tired 
of cares, but he was obliged to remain until Congress 
should recall him. Meanwhile he watched events in 
America from a distance, and made shrewd comments 
on affairs there. In one of his letters to his daughter 
he makes this criticism on the American eagle : 

" For my own part, I wish the bald eagle had not 
been chosen as the representative of our country ; he 
is a bird of bad moral character ; he does not get his 
living honestly ; you may have seen him perched on 
some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he 
watches the labor of the fishing-hawk ; and when that 
diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bear- 
ing it to his nest for the support of his mate and 
young ones, the bald eagle pursues him, and takes it 
from him. With all this injustice he is never in good 
case ; but, like those among men who live by sharp 



A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 243 

ing and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very 
lousy. Besides he is a rank coward ; the little king- 
bird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks him boldly 
and drives him out of the district. He is, therefore, 
by no means a proper emblem for the brave and 
honest Cincinnati ^ of America, who have driven all 
the king-birds from our country." 

At last he was able to return to America, and in 
the fall of 1785 he was again in Philadelphia. His 
countrymen received him with enthusiasm, and he was 
at once made president of the State of Pennsylvania, 
as the governor was then called. But he had had 
enough of public life, and he seemed to like better to 
spend his remaining years in the quiet occupations of 
an old man. He lived to see the country adopt the 
Constitution under wdiich it has grown strong, and 
to welcome George Washington to the office of first 
President. 

" My malady," he writes to the President, " renders 
my sitting up to write rather painful to me; but I 
cannot let my son-in-law, Mr. Bache, part for New 
York without congratulating you by him on the recov- 
ery of your health, so precious to us all, and on the 
growing strength of our new government under your 
administration. For my own personal ease, I should 
have died two years ago ; but though those years have 
been spent in excruciating pain, I am pleased that I 
have lived them, since they have brought me to see 
our present situation. I am now finishing my eighty- 
fourth year, and probably with it my career in this 
life ; but whatever state of existence I am placed in 
hereafter, if I retain any memory of what has passed 

^ The order of the Cincinnati was then forming, and Franklin crit- 
icised it as unrepublican. 



244 A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN'S LIFE. 

here, I shall with it retain the esteem, respect, and 
affection with which I have long been, my dear friend, 
yours most sincerely." 

Franklin died April 17, 1790, aged eighty-four 
years and three months. In 1728, when he was 
twenty-three years of age, and a printer, he composed 
the following epitaph, which was not, however, placed 
on his monument : 

The Body 

OF 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

Printer 

(Like the cover of an old book 

Its contents torn out 

And stript of its lettering and gilding) 

Lies here, food for worms. 

But the work shall not be lost 

For it will [as he believed] appear once more 

In a new and more elegant edition 

Revised and corrected 

hy 

The Author. 



a 



APPENDIX. 



The following outline of an autobiograjjhy was prepared by 
Franklin, apparently before beginning the work. The first 
paragraph covers the printed portion. The second intimates 
what topics the author would have taken up had he been able to 
finish his work. It would be an interesting task for a student 
to pick out from his letters what Franklin did say under the 
several heads in the second, paragraph. 

My writing. Mrs. Dogood's letters. Differences arise be- 
tween my Brother and me (his temper and mine) ; their cause 
in general. His Newspaper. The Prosecution he suffered. 
My Examination. Vote of Assembly. His manner of evading 
it. Whereby I became free. My attempt to get employ with 
other Printers. He prevents me. Our frequent pleadings be- 
fore our Father. The final Breach. My Inducements to quit 
Boston. Manner of coming to a Resolution. My leaving him 
and going to New York (return to eating flesh) ; thence to 
Pennsylvania. The journey, and its events on the Bay at Am- 
boy. The road. Meet with Dr. Brown. His character. His 
great work. At Burlington. The Good Woman. On the 
River. My Arrival at Philadelphia. First Meal and first 
Sleep. Money left. Employment. Lodging. First acquain- 
tance with my afterward Wife. With J. Ralph. With Keimer. 
Their characters. Osborne. Watson, The Governor takes 
notice of me. The Occasion and Manner. His character. 
Offers to set me up. My return to Boston. Voyage and acci- 
dents. Reception. My Father dislikes the proposal. I return 
to New York and Philadelphia. Governor Burnet. J. Collins. 
The money for Vernon. The Governor's Deceit. Collins not 
finding employment goes to Barbados much in my Debt. 
Ralph and I go to England. Disappointment of Governor's 
Letters. Colonel French his Friend. Cornwallis's Letters. 
Cabbin. Denham. Hamilton. Arrival in England. Get 



246 APPENDIX. 

employment. Ralph not. He is an expense to me. Adventures 
in England. Write a Pamphlet and print 100. Schemes. 
Lyons. Dr. Pemberton. My diligence, and yet poor through 
Ralph. My Landlady. Her character. Wygate. Wilkes. 
Gibber. Plays. Books I borrowed. Preachers I heard. Red- 
mayne. At Watts's. Temperance. Ghost. Conduct and 
Influence among the Men. Persuaded by Mr. Denham to re- 
turn with him to Philadelphia and be his clerk. Our voyage 
and arrival. My resolutions in Writing. My Sickness. His 
Death. r<5und D. R. married. Go to work again with Keimer. 
Terms. His ill usage of me. My Resentment. Saying of 
Decow. My Friends at Burlington. Agreement with H. 
Meredith to set up in Partnership. Do so. Success with the 
Assembly. Hamilton's Friendship. Se well's History. Gazette. 
Paper money. Webb. Writing Busy Body. Breintnal. God- 
frey. His Character. Suit against us. Offer of my Friends, 
Coleman and Grace. Continue the Business, and M. goes to 
Carolina. Pamphlet on Paper Money. Gazette from Keimer. 
Junto credit ; its plan. Marry. Library erected. Manner of 
conducting the project. Its plan and utility. Children. 
Almanac. The use I made of it. Great industry. Constant 
study. Father's Remark and Advice upon Diligence. Carolina 
Partnership. Learn French and German. Journey to Boston 
after ten years. Affection of my Brother. His Death, and 
leaving me his Son. Art of Virtue. Occasion. City Watch 
amended. Post-office. Spotswood. Bradford's Behavior. 
Clerk of Assembly. Lose one of my Sons. Project of subordi- 
nate Juntos. Write occasionally in the papers. Success in Busi- 
ness. Fire companies. Engines. Go again to Boston in 1743. 
See Dr. Spence. Whitefield. My connection with him. His 
generosity to me. My returns. Church Differences. My part 
in them. Propose a College. Not then prosecuted. Propose 
and establish a Philosophical Society. War. Electricity. My 
first knowledge of it. Partnership with D. Hall, &c. Dispute 
in Assembly upon Defence. Project for it. Plain Truth. Its 
success. Ten thousand Men raised and disciplined. Lotteries. 
Battery built. New Castle. My influence in the Council. 
Colors, Devices, and Mottos. Ladies' Military Watch. Qua- 
kers chosen of the Common Council. Put in the Commission 
of the peace. Logan fond of me. His Library. Appointed 
Postmaster-General. Chosen Assemblyman. Commissioner to 



\ 



APPENDIX. 247 

treat with Indians at Carlisle and at Easton. Project and 
establish Academy. Pamphlet on it. Journey to Boston. At 
Albany. Plan of union of the colonies. Copy of it. Remarks 
upon it. It fails, and how. Journey to Boston in 1754. Dis- 
putes about it in our Assembly. My part in them. New Gov- 
ernor. Disputes with him. His character and sayings to me. 
Chosen Alderman. Project of Hospital. My share in it. Its 
success. Boxes. Made a Commissioner of the Treasury. My 
commission to defend the frontier counties. Raise Men and 
build Forts. Militia Law of my drawing. Made Colonel. 
Parade of my Officers. OfPence to Proprietor. Assistance to 
Boston Ambassadors. Journey with Shirley, &c. Meet with 
Braddock. Assistance to him. To the Officers of his Army. 
Furnish him with Forage. His concessions to me and character 
of me. Success of my Electrical Experiments. Medal sent 
me. Present Royal Society, and Speech of President. Denny's 
Arrival and Courtship to me. His character. My service to 
the Army in the affair of Quarters. Disputes about the Propri- 
etor's Taxes continued. Project for paving the City. I am sent 
to England. Negotiation there. Canada delenda est. My Pam- 
phlet. Its reception and effect. Projects drawn from me con- 
cerning the Conquest. Acquaintance made and their services 
to me — Mrs. S. M. Small, Sir John P., Mr. Wood, Sargent 
Strahan, and others. Their characters^- Doctorate from Edin- 
burgh, St. Andrew's. Doctorate from Oxford. Journey to 
Scotland. Lord Leicester, Mr. Prat. De Grey. Jackson. 
State of Affairs in England. Delays. Eventful Journey into 
Holland and Flanders. Agency from Maryland. Son's appoint- 
ment. My Return. Allowance and thanks. Journey to Bos- 
ton. John Penn, Governor. My conduct toward him. The 
Paxton Murders. My Pamphlet. Rioters march to Philadel- 
phia. Governor retires to my House. My conduct. Sent out 
to the Insurgents. Turn them back. Little thanks. Dis- 
putes revived. Resolutions against continuing under Proprie- 
tary Government. Another Pamphlet. Cool thoughts. Sent 
again to England with Petition, Negotiation there. 

Lord H. His character. Agencies from New Jersey, Georgia, 
Massachusetts. Journey into Germany, 1766. Civilities received 
there. Gottingen Observations. Ditto into France in 1767. 
Ditto in 1769. Entertainment there at the Academy. Intro- 
duced to the King and the Mesdames, Mad. Victoria and Mrs. 



248 APPENDIX. 

Lamagnon. Due de Chaulnes, M. Beaumont, Le Roy, 
D'Alibard, Nollet. See Journals. Holland. Reprint my 
papers and add many. Books presented to me from many 
authors. My Book translated into French. Lightning Kite. 
Various Discoveries. My manner of prosecuting that Study. 
King of Denmark invites me to dinner. Recollect my Father's 
Proverb. Stamp Act. My opposition to it. Recommendation 
of J. Hughes. Amendment of it. Examination in Parliament. 
Ref)utation it gave me. Caressed by Ministry. Charles Town- 
send's* Act. Opposition to it. Stoves and chimney-plates. 
Armonica. Acquaintance with Ambassadors. Russian Intima- 
tion. Writing in newspapers. Glasses from Germany. Grant 
of Land in Nova Scotia. Sicknesses. Letters to America 
returned hither. The consequences. Insurance Office. My 
character. Costs me nothing to be civil to inferiors ; a good 
deal to be submissive to superiors, &c., &c. Farce of Perpetual 
Motion. Writing for Jersey Assembly. Hutchinson's letters. 
Temple. Suit in Chancery. Abuse before the Privy Council. 
Lord Hillsborough's character and conduct. Lord Dartmouth. 
Negotiation to prevent the War. Return to America. Bishop 
of St. Asaph. Congress. Assembly. Committee of Safety. 
Chevaux-de-frise. Sent to Boston, to the Camp. To Canada, 
to Lord Howe. To France. Treaty, &c. 



INDEX. 



Academy, founding an, 149-152. 

Adams, Matthew, 20. 

Alexander, James, 1G6. 

Allen, Judge, of New Jersey, 77. 

Allen, William, 140. 

Amboy, 32, 33. 

American Philosophical Society, the, 138 

and note. 
Amherst, Lord, 209. 
Argument, 21, 25, 26, 49. 
Art of Virtue, The, a proposed book. 111, 

112, 234. 

Bache, Richard, 243. 

Baird, Dr., of Philadelphia and Scot- 
land, 83. 

Battery, securing a, 139-145. 

Beatty, Rev. Mr., 192, 193. 

Beer-drinking, 61-63. 

Bethlehem, Pa., 189, 190, 193-195. 

Bible, concealment of a, 11, 12. 

Bond, the two Doctors, 185, 186. 

Bond, Dr. Thomas, establishes a hospital 
in Philadelphia with Franklin's help, 
154-157. 

Bonnell, Captain, 209, 210. 

Boston, Franklin's life in, 12-30 ; a short 
visit to, 41-43 ; 199. 

Braddock, General Edward, 173-184. 

Bradford, Andrew, 37, 38, 83, 84, 86, 91, 
127. 

Bradford, William, 31, 37, 38. 

Breintnal, Joseph, 81, 82, 84, 90. 

Brockden, Charles, 94, 96. 

Brown, Dr., 33. 

Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, Count de, 
201. 

Bunyan, John, 19, 31, 32. 

Burlington, N. J., 33, 34, 76, 77. 

Burnet, Governor, 45. 

Bustill, Samuel, 77. 

Cambridge, England, 227. 

Canada, its importance to Great Britain, 
223, 228, 229 ; commissioners sent to, 
238. 

Canton, John, 203. 

Carlisle, Pa., 153, 154. 

Cave, publisher of The Gentleman'' s Mag- 
azine, 200. 

Charles, Mr., London Agent for the 
Province of Pennsylvania, 217, 221. 



Cincinnati, the order of the, 243 and 

note. 
Clapham, Colonel, 193. 
Clifton, John, 160. 
Clinton, Governor) 140. 
Coleman, William, 82 ; his kindness to 

Franklin, 87. 
Collins, John, 21, 30, 39, 43, 45-47, 78. 
Collinson, Peter, 199, 200, 217. 
Cooper, Joseph, 77. 
Ci-aven Street, London, 162. 
Croghan, George, 180. 

Dalibard, Thomas Frangois, translates 
Franklin's papers on electricity, 201 ; 
proves the truth of Franklin's theory 
as to lightning, 202. 

Declaration of Independence, the, 238, 
239. 

Decow, Isaac, 77. 

Deism, 77, 78. 

Denham, Mr., a Quaker merchant of Phil- 
adelphia, 55-57, 66 ; employs Franklin 
as a clerk, 67 ; 70 ; dies, 71. 

Denny, Captain William, Governor of 
Pennsylvania, 171, 198 ; his first inter- 
course with Franklin, 203-205; 206, 
208 ; passes an act of the Assembly 
taxing the proprietary estate, 220 ; is 
removed from oflflce, 222. 

Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, 
Pleasure and Pain, A, 59. 

Dunbar, Colonel, 179, 182, 184, 185, 197, 
198. • 

Dunkers, the, 146. 

Eagle, bald, 242, 243. 

Ecton, Northamptonshire, 9, 227, 228. 

Electricity, 199-203. 

Falmouth, 216. 

Fawkener, Sir Everard, 197. 

Fire department, the foundation of a, 

129, 130 : 142, 143. 
Fireplace, the Pennsylvania, 147, 148. 
Folger, Peter, grandfather of Franklin, 

12, 13. 
Fort Duquesne, Battle of, 181-183. 
Fort George, 209. 

Fothergill, Dr. John, 161, 200, 217, 218. 
France, Franklin in, 240-243. 
Francis, Mr., attorney-general", 149. 



250 



INDEX. 



Franklin, Benjamin, uncle of Benjamin, 
10, 11, 14. 

Franklin, Abiah (Folger), mother of Ben- 
jamin, 12, 17. 

Franklin, Benjamin, ancestry and pa- 
rentage, 9-13 ; birth, 12 and note ; 
schooling, 13, 14 ; learning his father's 
trade of tallow-chandler, 14-18 ; an 
early instance of misdirected public 
spirit, 15 ; his indifference in regard to 
his food, 16, 17 ; fondness for reading, 
19, 20 ; becomes an apprentice in his 
brother James's printing-office, 19, 20 ; 
writes and sells ballads, 20 ; practices 
prose-writing, 20-23 ; becomes a vege- 
tarian, 23, 24 ; his studies, 24, 25 ; 
writes for the New England C our ant, 
27, 28; his disputes with his brother 
James, 28-30 ; a new arrangement 
with his brother, 29 ; asserts his free- 
dom and goes to New York, 29, 30 ; the 
journey from New York to Philadel- 
phia, 31-35 ; first day in Philadelphia, 
35-37 ; finds employment and lodgings, 
37-39 ; urged by the governor to set 
up a printing business in Philadelphia, 
40, 41 ; goes home with a letter from 
the governor to his father, 41, 42 ; his 
father refusing, on account of his 
youth, to set him up in business, he 
returns to Philadelphia, 42-45 ; rela- 
tions with Collins, 46, 47 ; promises of 
assistance from the governor, 47, 48 ; 
vegetarianism and argument, 48-51 ; be- 
comes attached to Miss Deborah Read, 
50 ; his acquaintances in Philadelpliia, 
50-53 ; on the governor's assurances of 
financial assistance he sails for London j 
to buy an outfit for his printing-office, 
53-55 ; arrival in London and disclos- 
ure of Governor Keith's faithlessness, 
56, 57 ; finds employment at Palmer's 
printing-house, 58, 59 ; makes acquain- 
tances, 59, 60 ; breaks with his friend 
James Ralph, 61 ; enters Watts's print- 
ing-house, 61 ; his temperate habits, 
61-63 ; his lodgings, 63-65 ; his swim- 
ming powers, 65-68 ; enters the em- 
ployment of Mr. Denham, a Philadel- 
phia merchant, and sails for America, 
67, 68 ; as a merchant's clerk in Phila- 
delphia, 70 ; very ill of pleurisy, 71 ; by 
the death of Mr. Denham he is thrown 
out of his situation, and he again 
enters the printing-house of his old em- 
ployer, Keimer, 71 ; is discharged by 
Keimer without cause, but is after- 
wards reengaged, 74-76 ; agrees to a 
partnership with Hugh Meredith in 
a printing business, 75 ; makes friends 
in New Jersey, 76, 77 ; morality and 
religion, 77-79 ; leaves Keimer and 
starts business with Meredith, 79, 80 ; 
forms a debating club called the Junto, 
80-82 ; industry in business, 82, 83 ; 
starts a newspaper, The Pennsylvania 
Gazette, 83, 84; increasing business, 



85, 86 ; his partnership with Meredith 
is dissolved, and with the assistance of 
friends he continues the business alone, 
( 86-88 ; advocates an increase of the pa- 
per currency, 88, 89 ; growing business, 
89-91 ; courtship and marriage, 92-94 ; 
establishes the first subscription library 
in America, 94-98 ; assisted by the in- 
dustry and frugality of his wife, 99; 
his religious beliefs, 99-101 ; his plan of 
moral improvement, 101-114 ; his pro- 
ject of founding an international so- 
ciety or sect for the practice of virtue, 
115-117 ; publication and success of 
Poor Eichard^s Almanac, 118-119 ; his 
manner of conductmg his newspaper, 
119 ; sends one of his journeymen to 
South Carolina under a partnership 
arrangement, 120 ; his relations with 
Rev. Mr. Hemphill, 121 ; learning lan- 
guages, 122, 123 ; visits Boston and 
Newport, 124 ; loses his little boy, 124 ; 
brings about the enlargement of the 
Junto's usefulness by the formation of 
subordinate clubs, 125, 126 ; chosen 
clerk of the General Assembly of 
Pennsylvania, 126 ; turns an enemy 
into a friend, 126, 127 ; is made post- 
master at Philadelphia, 127 ; accom- 
plishes the reform of the city watch, 
128 ; through his instrumentality a fire 
department is organized, 129, 130 ; his 
acquaintance with the Rev. George 
Whitefield, 133, 134 ; increasing pros- 
perity, 136 ; forms partnerships in other 
colonies, 137 ; starts a movement for an 
academy, 138 ; establishes the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society, 138 ; his 
successful efforts in behalf of the pub- 
lic defence, 138-145; his rule as to 
public office, 141 ; invents the Frank- 
lin stove, or Pennsylvania fireplace, 
147, 148 ; founds an academy, which 
afterwfirds became the University of 
Philadelphia and finally the University 
of Pennsylvania, 149-152 ; takes Mr. 
David Hall into partnership to man- 
age his business, 151 ; elected to mem- 
bership in the Assembly and other 
offices, 152, 153 ; furthers Dr. Thomas 
Bond's plans for a hospital in Phila- 
delphia, 154-157 ; advice to a solicitor 
of subscriptions, 157, 158 ; his share in 
bringing about the paving, cleaning, 
and lighting of Philadelphia streets, 
159-161 ; his project for the clean- 
ing of London streets, 161-164 ; post- 
master-general for America jointly 
with Mr. William Hunter, 165 ; takes 
a journey to New England, where he 
receives the degree of Master of Arts 
from Harvard College, 165, 166; ap- 
pointed one of the commissioners 
to arrange an alliance with the Six 
Nations, 166 ; his plan for a union of 
the colonies, 166-168 ; his pleasant re- 
lations with Governor Morris, 169, 170; 



INDEX. 



251 



his services in procuring money from 
the Assembly to be used by the gov- 
ernment of Massachusetta in an attack j 
upon the French, 172, 173 ; procures 
transport wagons and supplies for Gen- 
eral Braddock's expedition against 
Fort Duquesne, 173-180 ; his unheeded j 
warning to Braddock, 180, 181 ; recom- i 
mendatory letters from Braddock, | 
184 ; partially successful efforts to se- 
cure the return of servants which had 
been enlisted in the army, 184 ; diflQ- 
culties with the owners of transport : 
wagons, 185 ; forebodings as to the 
outcome of the expedition, 185, 18G ; ; 
appointed on a commission to spend an i 
appropriation for the defence of the | 
Province, 188 ; promotes the formation j 
of a militia, 188, 195 ; raises troops 
and commands an expedition to build 
a line of forts against the Indians, 188- i 
193 ; colonel in the militia, 195, 196 ; j 
incurs the enmity of the proprietor of : 
the Province, 196, 197 ; his relations 
with Governor Morris, 197, 198 ; his j 
electrical experiments and discoveries, 
199-203; chosen a member of the \ 
Royal Society, 203 ; receives a medal 
from the Royal Society, 203 ; his first j 
meeting and subsequent relations with j 
Governor Denny, 203-205 ; appointed ; 
agent of the Province of Pennsylvania j 
to present and support its petition to 
the crown against the Penn family, 
205 ; his relations with General Lord i 
Loudoun, 206-212 ; delayed in starting I 
for London and on the voyage by Lord ] 
Loudoun's indecision and procrastina- 
tion, 207-209 ; unsuccessful efforts to 
secure reimbursement for money ad- 
vanced to buy provisions, etc., for the 
army, 211, 212 ; events of the voyage, 
212-216 ; lands at Falmouth and pro- 
ceeds to London, 216 ; visits Dr. Foth- 
ergill and Mr. Peter Collinsou, 217; 
his conversation with Lord Granville, 
217, 218 ; his negotiations with the 
proprietaries, 218-223 ; his stay in 
England, 223-231 ; makes purchases 
for his wife, 224-226 ; makes friends 
in England, 227 ; visits his ancestral j 
home, 227, 228 ; his ideas as to the im- I 
portance of America to England, 228, I 
229 ; advice to Mary Stevenson as to 
reading, 229, 230 : returns to America, 
231, 232; makes a tour through the i 
northern colonies to inspect and regu- j 
late the postal system, 232 ; his services | 
during the riots of the " Paxton Boys " j 
against the converted Indians, 233 ; 
a short period of unpopularitj', 234 ; 
again sent to England as agent for the 
Province, 234 ; his services to the col- 
onies, 234-237 ; makes purchases for 
his wife, 235, 236 ; returns to America, 
237 ; unanimously chosen a delegate to 
the Continental Congress, 237 ; letter 



to Mr. William Strahan, 237 ; letter to 
another English acquaintance, 237 ; 
goes to Canada as one of three commis- 
sioners to solicit assistance, 238 ; takes 
part in the discussions leading to the 
Declaration of Independence, 238, 239 ; 
represents the United States in France, 
240-242; his personal appearance at 
this time, 241 ; one of the peace com- 
mission, 241, 242 ; a letter to Mrs. 
Hewson, 241 ; a letter to his daughter, 
242 ; returns to America and is made 
president of the State of Pennsylvania, 
243 ; last years, 243 ; death, 244 ; his 
epitaph, 244. 

Franklin, Mrs. Benjamin, her married 
life, 94 ; her death, 94 n., 241 ; her in- 
dustry and frugality, 99 ; 223 ; Frank- 
lin's letters to, 224, 227, 235 ; 232. See 
Read, Miss Deborah. 

Franklin, James, brother of Benjamin, 
19, 23, 24 ; publishes the New England 
Courant, 26, 27 ; his treatment of his 
brother Benjamin, 28 ; trouble with 
the authorities, 28, 29 ; makes another 
arrangement witli Benjamin, 29 ; Ben- 
jamin leaves him, 30 ; 42 ; reconcilia- 
tion with Benjamin, 124. 

Franklin, John, brother of Benjamin, 
18, 43. 

Franklin, John, uncle of Benjamin, 
9,10. 

Franklin, Josiah, father of Benjamin, 
10, 11 ; emigrates to New England, 12 ; 
his family, 12 ; 13-15 ; his person and 
character, 15, 16 ; his grave, 17 ; 18- 
23, 28, 30, 42, 43. 

Franklin, Samuel, first cousin of Benja- 
min, 18. 

Franklin, Samuel, second cousin of Ben- 
jamin, 10. 

Franklin, Sarah, daughter of Benjamin, 
226, 227, 232, 236 ; a letter from her 
father, 242. 

Franklin, Thomas, grandfather of Benja- 
min, 9, 10. 

Franklin, Thomas, uncle of Benjamin, 
10, 227, 228. 

Franklin, William, son of Benjamin, ap- 
pointed clerk to the General Assembly 
of Pennsylvania, 153; 176, 188, 216, 
223-225 ; his marriage and appointment 
as governor of New Jersey, 2.32 n. 

Franklin family, the, 9-12. 

Franklin stove, the, 147, 148. 

French, Colonel, of Newcastle, 40, 55. 

Georgia, settlement of, 132, 133. 

Gnadenhut, 188-194. 

Godfrey, Thomas, 79, 81, 92, 93. 

Godfrey, Mrs. Thomas, 92, 93. 

Gordon, Major, Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania, 70. 

Grace, Robert, 82; his kindness to 
Franklin, 87 ; manufactures the Frank- 
lin stove, 147. 

Granville, Lord, 217, 218. 



252 



INDEX, 



Halifax, 209. 

Hall, David, taken into partnership with 

Franklin, 151. 
Hamilton, Andrew, 55, 57, 86, 89. 
Hamilton, Governor James, 55, 166, 168, 

169. 
Hanbury, John, 217. 
Harry, David, 72, 91. 
Hemphill, Rev. Mr., 121, 122. 
Hewson, Mrs. (formerly Miss Mary 

Stevenson), a letter from Franklin, 

241. 
Holmes, Captain Robert, 39-42. 
House, George, 79. 
Hume, David, 184. 
Humility, 104, 112-114. 
Hunter, WilUam, 165. 

Indians, a treaty with, 153 ; their fond- 
ness for rum, 153, 154; conference 
with the chiefs of the Six Nations, 166, 
167 ; in the French and Indian War, 
180-183, 188-192, 209; massacres of 
converted, 233. 

Innis, a Philadelphia messenger, 208. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 238. 

John Thompson, Hatter, Franklin's an- 
ecdote, 238, 239. 

Junto, the, organization of, 80-82 ; 88, 
89, 94, 95, 113, 119 ; foundation of sub- 
ordinate clubs, 125, 126; 128, 129, 
138 n., 149. 

Keimer, Samuel, the printer, 37-41, 48 ; 
his arguments with Franklin, 49 ; pro- 
poses founding a new sect, 49 ; as a 
vegetarian, 49, 50 ; 70 ; engages Frank- 
lin to manage his printing-house, 71 ; 
72, 73 ; picks a quarrel with Franklin 
and discharges him, 74 ; his financial 
condition, 75 ; reengages Franklin, 
75, 76 ; 82-84 ; fails and goes to Bar- 
badoes, 90, 91. 

Keith, Sir William, Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, 40-43 ; proposes to set Frank- 
lin up as a prmter, 47, 48 ; his post- 
poned promises to Franklin, 53, 54 ; 
his faithlessness discovered, 56, 57; 
70, 78. 

Kennedy, Captain, 213, 215. 

Kennedy, Mr., 166. 

King of Denmark, the, 98. 

Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 199, 200. 

Kite, Franklin's experiment with a, 
202. 

Lamps, street, 160, 161. 

Lawrence, Colonel, 139, 140. 

Le Roy, Jean Baptiste, 202. 

Libraries, subscription, 94-98. 

Library, the Philadelphia, the founding 
of, 94-98. 

Logan, James, 143, 144. 

London, Franklin's life as a journeyman 
printer in, 56-68 ; lighting and clean- 
ing of the streets in, 161-164 ; Frank- 



lin as colonial agent in, 216-231, 234- 

237. 
Lor, M. de, 202. 
Lotteries, 142 and note. 
Loudoun, Lord, 205-212. 
Louisburg, 209. 
Lutwidge, Captain, 213. 
Lyons, a surgeon, 59. 

Macclesfield, Lord, 203. 

Madeira, 231. 

Mandeville, Dr., 59. 

Mansfield, Lord, 221. 

Maugridge, William, 81. 

Meredith, senior, 86, 87. 

Meredith, Hugh , 71 , 74 ; arranges a part- 
nership with Franklin in a printing 
business, 75 ; 76, 81, 85 ; his partner- 
ship with Franklin having been dis- 
solved, he settles in North Carolina, 
87, 88. 

Mickle, Samuel, 80. 

Militia, organization of a, 138, 139, 188, 
195. 

Mitchel, Dr., 200. 

Money, paper, 88-90. 

Morality, 77-79, 101-114. 

Moravians, their opinions as to bearing 
arms, 189 ; their manner of life, 194, 
195. 

Morris, Governor Robert Hunter, his 
appointment, 168 ; his disputes with 
the Assembly and his personal friend- 
ship with Franklin, 169, 170, 197, 198 ; 
172 ; vetoes money-bills of Assembly, 
187 ; 193. 

Morris, James, 142, 143. 

New England Courmxi., the, 27-29. 
Newspapers, libel in, 119, 120. 
New York, Franklin in, 31. 
Nollet, Abb^, 201, 202. 
Norris, Isaac, Speaker of the Penusyl- 
vania House, 153, 166. 

Order, 103, 104, 107-110. 
Orme, Captain, 183. 

Osborne, Charles, his acquaintance with 
Franklm, 51-53. 

Palmer, Mr., the London printer, 58, 59. 

Paris, Ferdinand John, 219, 221. 

Parsons, William, 81. 

Partnerships, 137. 

" Paxton Boys," the riots of the, 233. 

Pearson, Isaac, 77. 

Pemberton, Dr., 59. 

Pembroke, Lord, 216. 

Penn, John, grandson of William, 166 ; 
Governor of Pennsylvania, 233, 234. 

Penn, Thomas, son of William and chief 
proprietor of Pemisylvauia, his hos- 
tility to Franklin, 196, 197 ; 204, 218. 
See Proprietors of Pennsylvania. 

Penn, William, anecdote of, 143, 144. 

Penn family. See Proprietors of Penn- 
sylvania. 



INDEX. 



253 



Pennsylvania Gazette, The, Franklin's 
newspaper, 84, 85, 119, 122, 136. 

Peters, Secretary Richard, 166. 

Philadelphia, Franklin's life in, 34-54, 
70-207, 231-234, 237-240, 243, 244. 

Philosopliical Society, the American, 138. 

Pilgrim's Progress, 19, 31, 32. 

Poor Richard's Almanac, publication of, 
118 ; its success and its influence for 
good, 118, 119. V 

Potts, Stephen, 71, 72, 81. 

Povvuall, Governor Thomas, 172. 

Presbyterian minister, a, 100, 101. 

Pride, 112-114. 

Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the (Thomas 
and Richard Penn), disputes of the Pro- 
vince with, 170, 171, 204-207, 217-223. 

Quakers, their attitude towards offensive 
and defensive war, 138, 141-147. 

Quincy, Col. Josiah, grandfather of the 
Josiah Quincy who was first mayor of 
Boston, 172, 173. 

Riilph, James, his acquaintance with 
Franklin in Philadelphia, 51-53 ; 
Pope's allusion to, 53 and note ; sails 
for England in company with Franklin, 
54 ; life in London with Franklin, 57- 
60 ; becomes a country schoolmaster. 
60 ; breaks with Franklin, 61 ; 68, 78 ; 
his later reputation as a writer, 205. 

Read, John, Franklin lodged at his 
house, 39 ; 57. 

Read, Miss Deborah, her first sight of 
Franklin, 36, 39 ; Franklin becomes 
attached to, 50 ; 54, 58 ; her unhappy 
marriage with one Rogers, 70 ; 78 ; 
marries Franklin, 93, 94. ^^ee Frank- 
lin, Mrs. Benjamin. 

Reading, 230. 

Recluse, a female, 64, 65. 

Religion, 77-79, 99-101, 116, 131. 

Riddlesden, an attorney, 56, 57. 

RoUs, episode of the, 35. 

Rose, Aquila, 31, 38. 

Rum, its effect on the Indians, 153, 154. 

Scull, Nicholas, 81. i 

Self-examination, 101-114. ' 

Ships, speed in, as affected by building, 

rigging, lading, and sailing, 212-214. 
Shirley, William, Governor of Massachu- 
setts and commander-in-chief of the 
British forces in America at the begin- i 



I ning of the French and Indian War, 

167, 185, 210, 211. 
j Sloane, Sir Hans, 60 and note. 
: Small-pox, 124 and note. 
I Spangenberg, a Moravian bishop, 189. 
Spence, Dr., 199. 
Stevenson, Mrs. Margaret, 224, 225, 227, 

236, 242. 
Stevenson, Miss Mary, 224 ; Franklin's 
advice to, 229, 230 ; 236. See Hewson, 
Mrs. 
Stonehenge, 216. 
Stove, the Franklin, 147, 148. 
Strahan, William, Franklin's famous 

letter to, 237. 
Streets, paving, cleaning, and lighting of, 

159-164. 
Syng, Mr., 145. 

Taylor, Abram, 140. 

Tennent, Rev. Gilbert, 157, 158. 

Thomas, Governor, 138, 145, 147. 

University of Pennsylvania, establish- 
ment of the, 149-152. 

University of Philadelphia, establish- 
ment of the, 149-152. 

Vanity, 8. 

"Vegetarianism, 23, 24, 48-50. 

Vernon, Mr., 43, 86 ; Franklin's debt to, 

45-48, 73, 78, 86. 
Virtues, the cultivation of, 102-114. 

Washington, George, letter from Frank- 
lin to, 243. 
j Watch, the city, of Philadelphia, 128. 

Watson, Joseph, his acquaintance with 
I Franklin, 51-53. 

i Watson, Sir William, physician, botanist, 
and electrician, 203. 

Watts, the printer, 61, 62. 
I Webb, George, 72, 73, 81, 83, 84. 
! Welfare, Michael, 146. 

Wharf, building a, 15. 

Whitefield, Rev. George, one of the 
founders of Methodism. 131-136. 

Wilcox, a^London bookseller, 59. 

Wilton, England, 216. 

Wolfe, General James, 209. 

Women, the education of, 120, 121. 

Wright, Dr., 202. 

Wygate, Franklin's acquaintance with, 
65, 66. 

Wyndham, Sir William, 67, 68. 



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